CATL to Focus on Developing Electric Grid Systems and Electric Vehicle Platforms

Foreks - CATL's billionaire founder Robin Zeng aims to reinvent the world's largest battery manufacturer as a green energy provider, looking to disrupt the industry's economy by reducing electric vehicle development costs. In an interview with Reuters, Zeng stated that the business of developing and managing "zero-carbon" electric grids is expected to be "ten times" larger than the supply of electric vehicle batteries, where CATL currently leads with a 37% global share. He mentioned that CATL aims to establish independent energy systems large enough to power a significant data center or even a city. In a separate strategic move, CATL plans to offer a ready-to-use electric vehicle platform featuring a long-range battery integrated into a chassis, allowing customers to launch their customized EVs by only designing the interiors and exteriors.

According to Zeng, the goal is to sharply reduce electric vehicle development costs—from billions of dollars to millions—and open the sector to new competitors. Zeng's initiatives aim to unlock new growth for the 25-year-old company, which made its first significant breakthrough by selling lithium-ion batteries for Apple’s iPod before pivoting to electric vehicles with a BMW supply agreement in 2011. CATL increased its electric vehicle battery sales from $33 billion the previous year to $40 billion last year. Achieving Zeng's goal of a tenfold revenue increase for electric grids would position the battery manufacturer on par with China's largest companies, state oil giants Sinopec and PetroChina.