Tesla Build Batteries, Why Can’t CATL Build Car

When the customers of the CATL began to delve into the development of lithium batteries, the CATL was uneasy.

In the recent capital increase announcement of Avatr, CATL increased its capital by 770 million yuan and became the second largest shareholder of Avatr Technology after Changan Automobile.

After the completion of this round of capital increase, Avatr Technology will change from a holding subsidiary of Changan Automobile to an associate, and will no longer be included in the scope of the consolidated statement.

Joint ventures are also a new form of China’s new energy automobile companies. Supply chain companies have become one of the shareholders of the new brand. Traditional car manufacturers are the main car manufacturers. At the same time, Avatr’s technology “suppliers” come from Huawei and CATL.

On November 15th, the capital increased Avatr officially unveiled its first model, the Avatr 11.

Avatr 11 was born on the CHN technology platform jointly created by Chang’an, Huawei, and CATL. The full-stack intelligent solution comes from Huawei. Changan provides vehicle manufacturing capabilities. CATL guarantees the supply chain and exports new battery pack technology. At the same time, Avatr also announced that Chongqing is a global vehicle planning, R&D and manufacturing center, Shanghai is a global brand and software research and development center, and Munich is a global design center. Official delivery quarterly.

 It can be said that Avatr is a salon that is related to Jikrypton, Zhiji, and the upcoming release. It comes from China’s leading independent brand and is positioned as a high-end new energy vehicle brand. However, it is forming a new round of high-end new energy in China in different forms. Competition of car brands.

On the day of Avatr 11’s release, the upcoming Great Wall’s high-end electric vehicle brand salon, released four lidars and high-performance mecha battle running positioning, which also made this round of high-end new energy vehicle brand competition gunpowder. Full.

These new energy vehicle brands, which are born out of China’s leading independent brands, although they are high-end and have similar positioning, they have chosen different paths.

 Zhiji has an endorsement from Ali, and of course the largest shareholder is SAIC.

 Although the investors of KKX also have the CATL, they are only strategic partners and do not involve substantial technology output. The same as the previous CATL investment in Ai Chi and BAIC Blue Valley, they are all aimed at strengthening the upstream and downstream cooperation.

 But Avatr, it was the CATL who took part in the car making.

 This time, Avatr released its first model, and did not disclose the technical information involved in the CATL. The focus is on spreading Avatr’s brand image-positioned as a high-end lifestyle brand driven by technology, and there is no lack of cross-border information in the release. , Emotional intelligence and other elements.

 The model was designed by the former BMW designer, Nader Faghihzadeh, who once designed the BMW i8, served as the chief design officer.

 The published data includes: within 4 seconds of acceleration from 100 kilometers, it supports high-pressure fast charging of 200kW+, has 400tops computing power and 700 kilometers of cruising range.

 Including the autopilot and the carrying of lidar, not much information was released this time. Avatr 11 is the second model of Huawei inside, so the autonomous driving algorithm and lidar will all come from Huawei. In addition to cooperating with BAIC, Huawei has launched the Polar Fox Alpha S Huawei HI version, and it also cooperates with GAC. With the launch of Huawei inside models one by one, how to bridge the gap between the three will also test the platform capabilities, openness, and tacit understanding of cooperation provided by partners.

 Through the release of Avatr 11, we can still see that the layout of the CATL in the field of car manufacturing is gradually showing its path.

Avatr was not the only tentacles in the CATL that extended to car building.

 After increasing the capital of Avatr, CATL invested in Nezha Automobile and cooperated with Nezha in technology research and development and supply chain guarantee.

 CATL has made successive shots in the field of car manufacturing in just a few days. One reason is to promote CTC technology-a battery integration technology that surpasses CTP technology.

 CTC (Cell to Chassis) technology directly integrates the battery cell in the chassis, canceling the previous battery casing and cover, and integrating with the car chassis. It can not only increase the volume utilization rate and reduce the number of parts, but also improve production efficiency and reduce battery manufacturing costs and improve battery life.

 For the CATL, participating in car manufacturing is undoubtedly a prerequisite for advancing CTC technology.

 Because it needs to participate in the vehicle design stage, it has strict requirements on the matching degree of the vehicle chassis and frame model. At the same time, for the CATL, this will also be an opportunity to change the role from a battery supplier to a technology supplier. It will play an important role in the research and development of new cars, and not only protect the supply chain.

At the same time, CATL has been caught up in the competition for upstream resources in order to control the cost of raw materials, and high-quality customers have entered battery research and development. It shows that the future business development of CATL may be facing a slight crisis. Although the market value is trillions, it is also It has increasingly highlighted the anxiety of the CATL about business transformation and the urgent need to find new sources of profit.

The birth of Avatr has not only verified whether a new form of joint venture can be used in the field of my country’s car manufacturing, but also a way out for car manufacturing in the CATL.