Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (“CATL”) and Nio signed the framework agreement in Beijing. The two companies are set to carry out innovation in the R&D of long-life batteries according to the needs of Nio’s power swap. Shizhe Tzeng, NIO’s Vice President, and Huan Gao, CTO of CATL’s China E-Car Business Unit, signed the agreement on behalf of the two companies. Alan Zeng, NIO’s Senior Vice President and CEO of XPT, and Wei Zhu, Executive President of CATL’s Passenger Car Business Unit, attended the signing ceremony.
Usually the batteries of new energy vehicles (NEV) are under a warranty of eight years. From 2025 to 2032, battery warranties of nearly 20 million NEVs had or will run out, which leads users to issues including driving cars with unwarranted batteries, lifespan difference between the vehicle and the battery, and quite high battery replacement costs. Therefore, it has become a pressing task to address the life span issues of batteries.
With technological R&D and unique battery swap operations, Nio has set up the industry’s first battery lifecycle health operational system, covering the three major conditions affecting battery life: temperature, intensity and frequency. In the meantime, it has further extended the lifespan of swappable batteries through operations and dispatch based on big data, and been able to retain 80% of capacity after 12 years of use. In addition, with regards to battery R&D, Nio has significantly improved the calendar life and cycle life of batteries via research and development focusing on the intrinsic properties of anode and cathode materials as well as electrolyte. So far, Nio has developed full-stack R&D capabilities covering material synthesis, trial production of cells, system assembly, and validation and testing. It has obtained a total of 1,435 technology patents, among which 104 are related to battery lifespan.
CATL has developed core technologies, such as slow capacity attenuation, self-repairing Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) film and lithium supplement, to extend the service life of vehicle batteries. In this cooperation, with the long-life technology for swappable batteries as a key focus, Nio and CATL will jointly carry out discussions, make technological breakthroughs and innovation, and promote product applications. CATL will also plan and develop battery systems of longer service lives for Nio’s upcoming models. The two companies aim to establish a long-term and win-win partnership via the technological cooperation in long-life batteries, with which Nio and CATL are about to accelerate the development and adoption of such technologies, so that more EV users can enjoy battery swap services of higher quality without concerning about the high replacement costs of unwarranted batteries or reduced vehicle residual value due to battery attenuation. Moreover, batteries of longer lifespan also help with the sustainable development of the society.
As a leading smart EV company and the world’s largest operator of battery swapping network for smart EVs, Nio has installed and operated over 2,300 Power Swap Stations globally, and provided more than 40 million battery swaps. Changan Automotive, Geely Holding, JAC Group, and Chery Automobile, among others, have entered into cooperation with Nio to jointly push forward with the development of battery swapping network and unified standards.
CATL is a global leader of new energy innovative technologies, committed to providing premier solutions and services for new energy applications worldwide. As of November 30, 2023, more than 11.67 million vehicles had been running on CATL’s products.
SOURCE: Nio
