The world of new energy vehicles is ever-changing, and even leaders like “Tesla” dare not let their guard down or slow down their pace. This is because there are many new brands that have both strength and ambition, such as Avita, who are always ready to launch an impact.
On March 29th, Avita Technology announced that the company has completed the first round of strategic financing delivery. According to the industrial and commercial registration information, after this round of strategic financing, Avita Technology’s registered capital increased from 288 million yuan to 1.172242578 billion yuan. Among them, CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited) officially became the second largest shareholder of Avita Technology with a 23.99% stake; and the introduction of government capital such as the Liangjiang Fund in Chongqing also reflects the firm support of the local government for the transformation and upgrading of the automotive industry from another perspective. At the same time, Avita Technology’s business scope has been expanded to include production of road motor vehicles, centralized fast charging stations, operation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and sales of lifestyle derivatives.
Avita brand was born on the CHN platform and was jointly created by Changan Auto, Huawei, and CATL, bringing together the three companies’ respective advantageous resources in the fields of automotive manufacturing, ICT technology, and smart energy.
Avita’s first new car, the Avita 11, was unveiled at the end of last year. As the first high-end SEV (Smart Electric Vehicle) equipped with Huawei’s HI full-stack intelligent automotive solution, Avita 11 is equipped with 3 lidar, 6 millimeter wave radar, 12 ultrasonic radar, 13 cameras, and 400Tops computing power to achieve intelligent driving under complex urban road conditions.
So far, the Avita 11 has completed a series of tests such as extreme cold and durability, and will be officially released in the second quarter of this year, with delivery expected to begin in the third quarter of this year.
Supply Guarantee
In 2022, “price increase” is an unavoidable topic in the electric vehicle market. The rise in electric vehicle prices is due to the rise in core components, such as power batteries; the increase in power battery prices is due to the rise in the core raw material, lithium carbonate. This seemingly price hike caused by the power battery industry chain is ultimately because of the rapid growth in demand for electric vehicle consumption, and the fact that lithium carbonate materials cannot increase production at the same pace, thus causing a supply-demand imbalance in power batteries.
At the just-concluded 2022 China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stated that “it is expected that the balance between supply and demand of lithium resources may return to normal in 2-3 years”.
Compared to the cost increase caused by the rise of battery prices, for automakers, what they are more concerned about is the issue of power battery supply guarantee in the context of imbalanced supply and demand.
Focusing back on Avita Technology, as a key partner of CHN platform, Ningde Times has become the second largest shareholder of Avita Technology after this capital increase. Qu Tao, a new member of the board of directors of Avita Technology, is dispatched by Ningde Times.
In the current situation of tight shortage of battery resources in the industry chain, we believe that Ningde Times’ operation is the biggest recognition of Avita Technology’s prospects. With the backing of Ningde Times, Avita Technology’s power battery supply chain system has received the most solid guarantee.
Capacity issues are not only plaguing new energy vehicle companies, but even Toyota and Volkswagen have repeatedly reported production cuts. For a new brand, excellent product power is the first step in brand building, and stable delivery capability is even more indicative of the inner strength of a new brand.
Power batteries and chips are the two obstacles currently standing in the way of improving production capacity of pure electric vehicles. For Avita Technology, it seems that it has already easily passed the battery hurdle. Next, if Avita Technology can also secure chip supply, we can almost be sure that Avita Technology will have excellent delivery capabilities.
Innovation
What Ningde Times can bring to Avita Technology is not just supply chain security.
On the afternoon of March 26th, Wu Kai, Chief Scientist of Ningde Times, said at the 2022 China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum that “CATL has introduced the third generation CTP technology through continuous technological iteration, internally known as Kirin battery.”
According to the information revealed by Wu Kai, under the same chemical system and equivalent battery pack size, the Kirin battery pack can increase the energy density by 13% compared to the 4680 system.
The 4680 battery is a power battery with a larger size than the current mainstream 18650 and 2170 batteries, which was released by Tesla at the Battery Day event in September 2020. The energy density of the 4680 battery reaches 300kWh/kg, the capacity of a single cell increases by 6 times, and the range of the whole vehicle increases by 16%. The cost is reduced by 14%. It is hailed by Musk as a “huge breakthrough” in battery technology.
According to the information released by Ningde Times this time, the Kirin battery is superior to the 4680 battery in system weight, energy density, and volume energy density.
Stronger batteries mean more energy, and more energy means longer range. The second improvement of better batteries implies stronger electrical current capacity, resulting in explosive acceleration and shorter charging time.
As a major bottleneck in the development of electric vehicles, the breakthrough of battery technology also means the breakthrough of electric vehicles. As the saying goes, a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. AVTA is expected to taste the Kirin Battery first, which is the leading advantage of the Kirin Battery, which is almost equivalent to insuring the power and charging performance of AVTA’s future new cars.
Looking further into the future, as the world’s largest power battery company, CATL’s scale advantages are not only reflected in production capacity but also in research and development capabilities. The release of Kirin Battery is the best proof of CATL’s R&D capabilities. In other words, as a “progeny” of CATL, AVTA will enjoy the industry’s top battery performance for a long time in the future.
With the support of Changan Automobile and CATL, the two top shareholders in the industrial chain, AVTA has an absolute advantage in the three major fields of intelligent automobile manufacturing, supply chain security, and advanced technology research and development compared to other new brands. How to transform competitive advantages into product advantages? We are waiting to see what surprises AVTA 11 can bring us in the second quarter.
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.