In the past, the latest battery technology of CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited) was more enjoyed by new forces like NIO and XPeng, and now, the brands that benefit from CATL battery technology have changed.
On August 27th, CATL and JiKe (Geely Xingyue Group) jointly announced that JiKe 009 would become the first model equipped with CATL’s Kirin battery and is planned to be delivered in the first quarter of next year; at the same time, the JiKe 001 would become the world’s first model equipped with the Kirin 1000km battery and is planned to be delivered in the second quarter of next year.
In addition, the two parties have signed a five-year long-term strategic cooperation agreement to improve the level of linkage between supply and demand, aiming to promote the progress of new energy technology.
Regarding this, Zeng Yuqun, the chairman and founder of CATL, said: “CATL always insists on joint creation and is committed to helping automakers build global high-end automotive brands with leading power battery technology and solutions, accelerating the global electrification transformation.”
Indeed, as the global electrification rate continues to climb (currently reaching 9%, and is expected to reach 62% by 2030), solving some of the hard problems of new energy vehicles such as endurance, safety, cold resistance and heat resistance has become increasingly urgent.
Currently, CATL’s Kirin battery has achieved technical goals such as a 1000km range per charge, 5-minute rapid heating startup, and 10-minute charging from 10% to 80%, achieving comprehensive improvements in endurance, cold resistance, fast charging, safety, and other aspects (please see the article “Battery Doctor Talks about Kirin Battery | Huawei has Kirin Chips, and CATL has Kirin Battery” for details), approaching the performance of fuel vehicles in the aforementioned aspects, thus further accelerating the pace of fuel vehicles exiting the stage of history.
Why JiKe?
On the day when CATL announced that JiKe 009 would be the first model equipped with the Kirin battery, Geely Auto stock rose against the trend. This indicates that both institutions and users are highly optimistic about the cooperation between JiKe and Kirin batteries.
But why did CATL choose JiKe as the first brand to showcase the Kirin battery?
It is known that Li Xiang had forwarded comments on Weibo saying “See you next year” on the day when Kirin batteries were released. And CATL responded ambiguously, “Kirin has ideals.”
Such an “official announcement”-like Weibo post has caused many users to speculate, and such a strong integration of strengths is bound to create high expectations. Of course, the final reality proves that Kirin does indeed have ideals, but opted for JiKe as the starting point.
The key reason is that the Kirin battery is very powerful, and therefore, it requires a more advanced and open automobile platform in order to fully release the efficiency of the Kirin battery for users to drive.
SEA, which is under Geely, is currently the largest and most efficient new energy architecture in China. It incorporates the new three-electric concept of electric drive, electric management, and electrical ecosystem, realizing efficient and cloud-based management of battery, electric energy, and thermal energy data, which is precisely what Kirin batteries need.
Regarding to JETOUR 009, the world’s first luxury MPV developed based on the basic pure electric architecture, it is in line with the goal of “helping car companies build global high-end automotive brands” mentioned by Zeng Qinghong.
In addition, since its delivery began in October last year, JETOUR 001 has achieved positive growth at a fast pace. Although it is a relatively niche hunting-style sedan, JETOUR 001 still achieved a good performance of 5,022 vehicles in July. JETOUR 001 has also lived up to its positioning as a “hunting-style sedan,” successfully standing out in pure electric vehicles with ultimate mechanical quality and control feelings, capturing a certain number of loyal fans. With the addition of Kirin batteries, we believe that the increase in endurance will further release the driving potential of JETOUR 001.
Therefore, it is not so much that CATL chose JETOUR, but rather that they chose a brand with a solid foundation and strong products as a stage to showcase their strength and lay the foundation for a more brilliant and colorful future.
In addition to JETOUR, CATL has also teamed up with Huawei.
China’s two new energy giants start working together
On August 27th, in addition to JETOUR, CATL and Sila Nanotechnologies jointly announced that Kirin batteries will land on the AITO WENJIE series new models and signed a five-year long-term strategic cooperation agreement. AITO WENJIE series will be fully equipped with CATL’s power batteries.
This news undoubtedly delivered a new signal, that is, the AITO WENJIE series will launch new models equipped with CATL’s Kirin batteries. Based on the characteristics of Kirin battery’s endurance for up to 1000 kilometers, it can be inferred that the AITO WENJIE series new models are likely to be a brand new pure electric model.
For now, no new energy vehicle brand has crossed the two domains of pure electric and range extender. AITO WENJIE may be the first to break the ground.
In addition, after AITO WENJIE M5 and WENJIE M7 are equipped with CATL’s power batteries, while the pure electric endurance mileage is increased, the petrol cost will inevitably be further reduced, thus making the travel cost of range extender electric vehicles decline again. For the above two models, it may be a new growth point.Currently, with the support of Huawei, AITO has established a foothold in the field of new energy vehicles. In July, AITO M5 sold 6,128 units, with sales remaining stable. Recently, after only 51 days of release, AITO M7 officially started deliveries on August 24th. With the gradual release of production capacity, it is believed that the sales of AITO M7 will also be considerable.
As the new energy field continues to grow, Huawei has been strengthening its R&D investment. In addition to the well-known automobile ecosystem with Harmony OS at its core, Huawei has successfully reduced the cost of a laser radar from $2,000 to $200. The significant price reduction not only allows more new energy vehicle companies to use more advanced laser radars, but also provides an opportunity to install more laser radars on vehicles, continuously empowering the auxiliary driving or autonomous driving abilities of smart cars.
Regarding this, Richard Yu said, “Huawei, Cyrrus, and CATL are all companies dedicated to creating innovative technologies and high-quality products. We will continue to innovate and incorporate the strongest and most advanced technology into AITO cars, giving consumers a truly intelligent mobility experience.”
Battery swapping is necessary
At the recent 2022 Global New Energy Vehicle Conference, Zeng Yuqun said, “Assuming that a pure electric vehicle model originally sold for 120,000 to 140,000 RMB, consumers can buy a body for only 60,000 to 80,000 RMB through separation of the vehicle and power supply, and then choose from a variety of battery rental and swapping service plans based on actual usage scenarios.”
With the initial landing of the EVOGO battery swapping brand under the Ningde era in Xiamen, Hefei, and other places, the battery swapping plan of Ningde era has finally taken a step forward. Unlike NIO and Changan Blue’s battery swapping models, the former two are focused only on their own battery swapping points as automakers.
However, Ningde era is different. As a leading battery supplier in the entire new energy vehicle industry, Ningde era has a stronger ability to unify battery standards, thereby accessing the EVOGO battery swapping port, and scaling and industrializing the battery swapping business.
Therefore, we can fully anticipate that in the future there will be many new energy vehicle brands offering battery swapping models, whether they be low-end or high-end. As for whether Xpeng or AITO will join the battery swapping team in the future, we do not know, but what we can know is that if AITO joined the battery swapping team under the influence of Huawei, the battery swapping industry will inevitably present a more exciting scene.
ConclusionBattery, as the core power unit of new energy vehicles, is growing rapidly based on the actual needs of users, gradually overcoming fatal problems such as endurance and safety, thereby reducing the gap with fuel vehicles. From the performance of CATL, it can be seen that surpassing fuel vehicles is just around the corner.
However, improving individual performance alone cannot achieve the overall improvement. In order to fully demonstrate the energy efficiency of more “CATL batteries” in the future, more “SEA vast architecture” is needed to provide the former with a platform to shine.
Therefore, in order to replace fuel vehicles, it is not enough to rely on a powerful CATL alone. It also requires collective efforts from the entire industry to gradually shorten the seemingly distant journey and bring the endpoint closer to us.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.