Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) says it is ready to start building an electric vehicle battery pack that can last 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers).
CATL has clients including Tesla, BMW, Daimler, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo and has been openly developing a one-million-mile battery with Tesla. While it remains to be seen if the battery pack in question is the one co-developed with Tesla, CATL chairman Zeng Yuqun says the company is ready to start fulfilling orders for the battery.
“If someone places an order, we are ready to produce,” Zeng told Bloomberg, before adding the battery pack will cost a 10 per cent premium over the batteries it already supplies. He also said the battery will last the equivalent of 16 years.
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CATL is the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries and with the company expecting a rapid return to growth for the EV industry, it is continuing to invest heavily into the research and development of battery technology.
Zeng believes that while the coronavirus pandemic will drag down sales throughout the rest of this year, demand for electric vehicles will pick up in early 2021. CATL’s chairman added that car buyers holding back making a new vehicle purchase during the pandemic is creating pent-up demand that will be unleased starting next year.
“The pandemic may have a lasting effect throughout 2020, but won’t be a major factor next year,” he said. “We have great confidence for the long run.”
This is not CATL’s million-mile battery