Recently, Lisa Drake, chief operating officer of Ford Motor Company, publicly stated at an investor meeting that Ford will maintain cooperation with five battery suppliers including CATL, BYD, SK, LG Energy Solution, and Panasonic.
The first time
This is the first time Ford has confirmed that CATL is its supplier.
Subsequently, this statement was also confirmed by Ford China’s senior management, CATL said, “according to the customer’s caliber,” and further confirmed the authenticity of this news.
CATL enters Ford’s supply chain
As early as March 2019, there was news in the industry that “Ford sent representatives to visit the CATL factory”, but neither party confirmed this at that time. This is an official confirmation
Global electrification
With the acceleration of the global electrification transformation, as the global power battery leader, CATL is gaining momentum this year.
In the domestic market, CATL has cooperated with leading automakers and new car manufacturers to become the main force of its power battery supply and guarantee a high market share.
In the first October of 2021, the total installed capacity of power batteries for new power companies in car manufacturing is approximately 17.16GWh, among them, CATL has a 77.7% share.
CATL & car makers
It is worth mentioning that in the first October of 2021, CATL’s installed capacity of Tesla Model 3 and Model Y reached 5.34GWh, and the installed capacity of Model Y reached 3.36GWh, and its supporting share has been rising steadily.
A few days ago, Tesla also ordered a 45GWh lithium iron phosphate battery from CATL to ensure the steady progress of its sales plan next year.
In foreign markets, CATL actively enters the supply chain of foreign auto companies and continuously expands its business scope.
According to incomplete statistics, since the beginning of this year, CATL has continued to cooperate and increase cooperation with international car companies such as Hyundai, Volkswagen, Daimler Trucks, Rolls-Royce, Tesla, BMW and Fisker.
Facing market demand, CATL is also continuously expanding production and extending the industrial chain to further enhance its own supply capabilities.
CATL’ s production capacity
In terms of production capacity, CATL has planned 8 large self-built production bases with a total battery production capacity (including PACK) of approximately 500GWh.
If the production capacity of the joint venture with car companies is added to 600-650GWh, the production capacity is expected to reach 700-800GWh in 2025.
CATL also invested in the construction of the Bangpu Integrated Battery Material Industrial Park project, cooperated with BASF in cooperation with cathode materials and battery recycling, increased capital in Changzhou Lithium Resources, a subsidiary of Longpan Technology’s LFP business, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Sichuan Energy Investment to deploy lithium resources, lithium salt production and other fields.
In addition, CATL is also actively involved in energy storage, new energy materials and other related fields.
Ford Motor also stated that the company plans to increase its electric vehicle production capacity to 600,000 units per year within two years, becoming the world’s second largest electric vehicle manufacturer, and establishing a global production capacity of 240GWh in 2030. The huge demand for expansion may bring new revenue growth to CATL.
