CATL has announced a new generation of batteries for electric cars - they will begin production in 2023

Chinese battery giant CATL has announced a new generation of batteries for electric cars.
The batteries are called Qilin - they feature an increased energy density that will provide electric cars equipped with them with an increased range.
Mass production of the new batteries will start in 2023.Image source: catl.comThe CATL Qilin batteries will offer consumers the world's highest capacity utilization rate - it will be 72%; by comparison, the company's 2019 batteries had a capacity of 50%.
The energy density of batteries of the new generation will be 255 Wh/kg.The manufacturer has not yet reported whether there have been orders for the new generation of batteries from automakers.
Today, CATL supplies batteries for brands such as Tesla, Volkswagen, BMW and Nio.
In the first quarter, the Chinese giant reported a 24% loss of net income - problems have arisen due to a sharp rise in raw material prices.
In May, CATL reported that the results of the second quarter are expected to increase profits, as prices for products had to increase.
In the first four months, the total capacity of batteries sold by the company amounted to 41.5 GWh, which is more than twice as high as that of its nearest competitor, LG Energy Solution.Earlier it became known that CATL is currently studying the possibility of building two plants to produce batteries for electric cars in the United States.

From 2024, NIO will start producing its own 800-volt traction batteries

Many electric car manufacturers see organizing their own production of traction batteries as a way to achieve better cost control, Chinese company NIO is among them.
Starting in the second half of 2024, it expects to produce 800-volt traction batteries, which will be used in new brand electric cars starting at $30,000.Image source: NIOIn the future, as Reuters explains, citing comments from NIO chairman William Li, the company will combine the use of both third-party batteries and its own.
In the second quarter of this year, NIO had to raise its costs for purchasing batteries manufactured by CATL as the latter raised its selling prices.
NIO has 400 employees working on the development of its next-generation batteries.The switch to 800 volts can speed up charging the traction battery and somewhat reduce the cost of the wiring used in an electric vehicle, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a recent speech that the leading electric-car manufacturer believes it makes sense to switch to the 800 volt standard only for fairly large vehicles like the Cybertruck pickup and Semi truck.Korean carmakers Apparently, for NIO the choice of this standard is more dictated by the desire to achieve savings and improve usability for car owners.
NIO expects to deliver 23,000 to 25,000 electric vehicles in the second quarter, slightly less than the results of the first quarter, as the two-month lockdown in Shanghai undermined the company's ability to produce electric vehicles in the required quantity.

In April, BYD managed to break into second place in the ranking of the largest lithium battery suppliers

Chinese company BYD developed in parallel with Tesla, but started producing electric cars after it mastered mass production of lithium batteries.
The shutdown of Tesla's assembly line in Shanghai allowed BYD to become the world's second largest producer of traction batteries in April.
The first place is still occupied by CATL with 33.7% of the market.Image source: BYDThe statistics of SNE Research presented by Business Korea traditionally focuses on the business dynamics of Korean battery manufacturers, considering the period from January to April of this year inclusive.
Korean manufacturers have made significant progress in the annual comparison, but Chinese CATL still surpassed them, increasing the volume of supply by 114.1% and securing a little more than a third of the world market.
BYD is in third place with a 224.5% increase in supply volume and has almost doubled its market share to 12.1%.
LG Energy Solution managed to increase battery sales by 19.1% in the first four months of this year, but its share has dropped from 22.9% to 14.1%, although it is still in second place in the world ranking compared to its Chinese competitors.
Korean SK On was awarded only the fifth place, although its sales increased by 141.3%, and market share grew from 5.3% to 7%.
Samsung SDI is on the sixth place with a sales increase of 26.9%, but its share for the year decreased from 5.8% to 4.0%.
Total for the first four months of this year was released by manufacturers of traction batteries with a total capacity of 122.9 GWh.
This represents an increase of 83.4% over the same period last year.
Shipments have grown steadily since the third quarter of 2020.
Japanese manufacturers, including Panasonic, have also reduced their market share this year amid the progress of Chinese and Korean competitors.