Daily Archive: May 4, 2023

Thailand in talks with CATL over potential battery plant

Thailand is talking to many companies, not just CATL, but many in the battery industry, an official in the Southeast Asian country said.

Thailand in talks with CATL over potential battery plant-CnEVPost

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Thailand is in talks with CATL and other battery makers to build production facilities in the Southeast Asian country, a government official said.

"We are talking to many companies, not only CATL but many companies in the battery industry," Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary general of Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI), said, according to a May 3 Reuters report.

"This is one of our goals. That we would like to attract battery cell producers to set up their factory in Thailand," Therdsteerasukdi said.

CATL currently has 13 production sites worldwide, including 11 in China, one in Hungary and one in Germany, information on its official website shows. The company currently has no production facilities in Southeast Asia.

CATL is the world's largest power battery maker, with a 35 percent market share globally in January-March, the only one with a share of more than 30 percent, according to a report released by South Korean market research firm SNE Research on May 3.

As the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, Thailand has been looking to become a regional hub for electric vehicle production.

Thailand is currently the world's 10th-largest auto manufacturing economy, and its local auto production is dominated by Japanese automakers, including Toyota and Isuzu Motors.

According to the Thai government's plan, Thailand plans to convert about 30 percent of its annual vehicle production capacity to EVs by 2030.

Over the past few years, Thailand has been attracting investment from several EV companies, mainly Chinese, including Great Wall Motor and BYD.

On May 13, 2022, CATL announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Thailand's Arun Plus to collaborate on battery-related businesses in the ASEAN region.

Under the agreement, CATL will license CTP technology to ArunPlus, and the two companies will promote the application of CTP technology on the ground in Thailand and around the world.

Arun Plus, the EV subsidiary of Thai state energy group PTT, and CATL will supply battery products to Horizon Plus and other EV brands, according to a CATL press release at the time.

Horizon Plus, a joint venture between Arun Plus and Foxconn, plans to produce EVs in Thailand in 2024.

Global EV battery market share in Q1: CATL 35%, BYD 16.2%

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Global EV battery market share in Q1: CATL 35%, BYD 16.2%

CATL's battery is expected to maintain its No. 1 position as it is in high demand in passenger cars such as the Model 3, Model Y, SAIC Mulan, and the Chinese commercial vehicle market, according to SNE Research.

Global battery installations for electric vehicles (EVs) maintained strong growth in the first quarter, with China's CATL and BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) continuing to hold the top two positions.

In the first quarter, global EV battery consumption totaled 133.0 GWh, up 38.6 percent from 95.9 GWh in the same period last year, according to a report released yesterday by South Korean market research firm SNE Research.

Among them, CATL installed 46.6 GWh of batteries in the first quarter, up 35.9 percent from 34.3 GWh in the same period last year.

The Chinese power battery giant continued to rank No. 1 in the world with a 35.0 percent share, down from its 35.8 percent share a year ago and up from its 33.9 percent share in the January-February period.

CATL's battery is expected to maintain its No. 1 position as it is in high demand in passenger cars such as the Tesla Model 3, Model Y, SAIC Mulan, Y, and the Chinese commercial vehicle market, SNE Research said.

BYD installed 21.5 GWh of power batteries in the first quarter, up 115.5 percent from 10.0 GWh in the same period last year.

The company ranked second with a 16.2 percent share in the first quarter, up from 10.4 percent a year earlier and down from 18.2 percent in January-February.

BYD is gaining popularity in the Chinese domestic market with its price competitiveness through a vertically integrated supply chain, including self-supply of batteries and vehicle manufacturing, SNE Research said.

BYD is known to enter the South Korean market soon following Europe, drawing attention to the change in its growth trend, SNE Research added in the report.

LG Energy Solution's power battery installation from January to March was 19.3 GWh, up 37.5 percent year-on-year.

The South Korean company ranked third in the world with a 14.5 percent share, down from 14.6 percent a year earlier.

Japan's Panasonic was fourth with a 9.0 percent share, South Korea's SK On was fifth with a 5.3 percent share and Samsung SDI was sixth with a 4.9 percent share.

China's CALB, Gotion High-tech, Eve Energy and Sunwoda ranked seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth respectively, with shares of 4.3 percent, 2.2 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.4 percent respectively in the first quarter.

Global EV battery market share in Jan-Feb: CATL 33.9%, BYD 18.2%

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My Tour of Lightning eMotors

I was impressed pulling into the lot at Lightning eMotors. A hundred or more white vans from Ford and GM were arrayed in rows, waiting for their turn to be transformed into battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Lightning eMotors, covered by CleanTechnica in 2021 here, here, and here, specializes in creating powertrains and electric conversions for […]

73 Million Broken Promises — Google Failing To Enforce Policy Against Climate Misinfo Ads

A new report has found that Google is breaking its October 2021 promise to not sell ads on YouTube videos containing climate misinformation. The Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) coalition and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) collected 200 examples of climate disinformation YouTube videos, which collectively serve ads to over 73 million viewers. […]

Chinese Lithium giant Tianqi reportedly mulling stake in Mercedes-Geely JV Smart

Smart delivered 4,390 vehicles in China in April, down 25.73 percent from 5,911 units in March.

(A Smart #1 on display at the Shanghai auto show in April 2023. Image credit: CnEVPost)

Chinese lithium giant Tianqi Lithium is considering buying a minority stake in Smart Automobile, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Holding Group, as part of the latter's latest round of private funding, Bloomberg said today, citing people familiar with the matter.

Tianqi is in advanced talks to invest $100 million to $200 million in Smart in a deal that could value Smart at several billion dollars, people familiar with the matter said, adding that an agreement could be reached as soon as the next few weeks.

Shenzhen-listed Tianqi, one of China's largest lithium producers, raised about HK$13 billion in a Hong Kong IPO on July 13, 2022.

Mercedes first launched Smart in Germany in 1998 and brought the brand to the US a decade later, with the original two-seat model aimed at urban buyers with crowded parking spaces, the Bloomberg report noted.

Geely and Mercedes-Benz officially announced a 5.4 billion yuan ($783 million) Smart joint venture in Hangzhou Bay, Ningbo, in early 2020.

As part of the agreement, Mercedes-Benz designers will design the Smart cars and Geely will engineer them.

Smart has been considering raising capital as part of its effort to revive the compact car as an all-electric brand. The company was initially aiming to raise between $500 million and $1 billion in fresh funds, according to a Bloomberg report last year.

Smart delivered 4,390 vehicles in China in April, down 25.73 percent from 5,911 units in March, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

The brand currently has only one model on sale in China, the Smart #1, which went on sale in China on April 25, 2022, with deliveries starting on September 24.

The model was designed by Mercedes-Benz, with the Smart R&D team leading the engineering development, and is based on Geely's SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) architecture.

On April 17, Smart unveiled its new Smart #3, its second product since its electrification transition, on the eve of the Shanghai auto show.

($1 = RMB 6.8964)

Regulatory filing: Smart's second EV, Smart #3, coming soon

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NIO to open new NIO House in Germany on Jun 1

The new NIO House will be located in Düsseldorf and is set to become NIO's third such facility in Germany.  |  NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG

NIO to open new NIO House in Germany on Jun 1-CnEVPost

(Image credit: NIO)

NIO (NYSE: NIO) will open a new NIO House in Germany next month, as the Chinese electric vehicle company ramps up its efforts in Europe.

NIO's NIO House in Düsseldorf will open on June 1 local time, according to an article posted yesterday on the company's European version of its mobile app.

Düsseldorf, known for its elegant shopping streets, is also an important business location, especially in the fashion, advertising and telecommunications sectors, according to the article, which did not reveal the exact address of the NIO House.

The new NIO House will be the third flagship showroom of NIO in Germany.

On December 16, 2022, NIO opened its first NIO House in Germany, located on Kurfurstendamm in Berlin.

On March 30 of this year, NIO opened its second NIO House in Germany, located in the heart of Groβe Eschenheimer StraBe in Frankfurt.

NIO co-founder and president Qin Lihong was on site for the Frankfurt NIO House opening ceremony.

NIO House is the flagship showroom of NIO, which also includes the smaller NIO Space in China.

The NIO House is much more than just a space to display and sell vehicles, it is a space for NIO to offer a quality lifestyle to car owners.

NIO's goal is to transfer its entire suite of services in China to overseas markets, including the NIO House and its signature battery swap service.

NIO introduced the ET7, EL7 and ET5 to European consumers at the NIO Berlin launch event last October 7. The EL7 is known as the ES7 in China.

ET7 deliveries in Europe started last October and EL7 deliveries began at the end of January. ET5 deliveries in Germany started on March 31.

NIO opens new NIO House in Frankfurt, its 2nd in Germany

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Tesla “Low” Regenerative Braking Coming Back (It Seems)

Regenerative braking is an important feature found in electric vehicles, and Tesla is now looking to make its regen braking more adjustable for its drivers (again). In late 2020, Tesla got rid of the ability to select a “Low” regenerative braking option, but the company is reportedly looking to re-deploy that feature in a coming […]
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