CATL Supplies One‑Third of Global EV Batteries
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- CATL supplied batteries for roughly one‑third of all new electric vehicles worldwide in the previous year, cementing its position as the dominant global EV battery producer.
- Robin Zeng, CATL’s founder and China’s fourth‑richest individual, asserted that the U.S. EV market would falter without CATL batteries but expects a future boom once policy barriers ease.
- Ford terminated its joint‑venture with South Korea’s SK Group and is planning to build CATL‑designed lithium‑iron‑phosphate (LFP) batteries at a new Michigan plant, paying royalties for CATL’s intellectual property.
- General Motors is importing CATL‑sourced LFP batteries for the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt under a temporary arrangement, paying a 60 % tariff while its domestic battery factories remain idle.
- LFP technology, originally invented in the United States, has been refined by Chinese firms and is now being adopted by U.S. automakers such as Ford and GM.
- U.S. auto market faces lagging EV adoption due to protectionist policies and a smaller domestic battery scale, whereas China’s massive EV market has driven cost reductions through scale and learning curves.
- CATL is shifting R&D focus toward sodium‑ion batteries, indicating that lithium‑iron‑phosphate may become less central in its future product roadmap.
Why it matters: U.S. automakers like Ford and GM are forced to import costly Chinese LFP batteries, paying high tariffs and leaving domestic plants idle, while CATL secures a dominant share of global EV battery supply. This dynamic undercuts U.S. EV competitiveness and reinforces China’s market leverage.
