Chinese companies are exploring new technologies to further advance the development of the country’s thriving new energy vehicle (NEV) market, said an executive of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL).
CATL, China's largest automotive lithium-ion battery maker, recently released a video of a car crash test conducted at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour. The video shows that the crashed EV did not catch fire or explode.
Hu Guoliang, Executive President of CATL, said that the global industry has been focused on pursuing energy density.
"The whole industry used to be chasing after wholly only the energy density, and a lot of events happening in the last two years, three years in Europe, North America gave us a little bit shock. CATL has to be in this field. Only competing in price is not the right way," Hu said.
As the world's leading battery maker, CATL accounts for approximately 37 percent of the global electric vehicle battery market.
Now, the company is no longer satisfied with simply offering lithium packs. It is developing new technologies to directly integrate battery cells within the chassis of vehicles.
A senior engineer at the company explained the technology, saying it will help reduce maintenance costs.
"It's clear you can see the electrical machinery, thermal management, generator, air-conditioning system and some other component. In the middle, lies the core part, which we call the energy storage. By dividing the chassis into three parts helps save costs in maintenance compared with integrated die-casting ones," said the engineer.
The battery and electronic systems are fully integrated into the chassis, which explains why visitors to China's auto shows are often seen trying to get a view underneath.
The development of this new technology was included in the company's battery roadmap as early as 2018. A year later, the company formed a dedicated team to work on it, with half of the research and development conducted in Shanghai.
"You see this facility that we invested here in Lingang, and the team of around 600 people are residing (are stationed) in Dishui Lake area. We started with hiring kind of the best talent from the Shanghai region and with huge experience from the automotive industry," Hu said.
In 2024, China became the first country to produce more than 10 million new energy vehicles in a single year, with one in every two cars sold being an EV. As the market continues to emerge, technologies are evolving at a record pace.
"Normally in development process of the traditional automotive, four years around is the total cycle that we need to develop a vehicle. And today in China, we see the development lead time is normally two years, and we are still trying hard to push with our product and platform. We hope we can push this and shrink the time to market to 12 to 18 months, depends on the application target," Hu said.
Chinese battery companies explore new technologies to boost NEV market
Amid growing concerns over the Trump administration's tariff policies, experts have warned that these measures could spark countermeasures from other countries and have serious consequences for the country's economy, including rising consumer prices, stock market volatility, and even a recession.
Despite widespread opposition, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order on the so-called "reciprocal tariffs," imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" and higher rates on certain trading partners.
While Trump has long argued that tariffs would protect and create jobs in the country, economists widely believe that these policies could instead drive up unemployment and hurt consumers by pushing prices higher.
"In terms of the idea that this is just going to raise a lot of money, it's not clear how that happens without it being at the the cost of the U.S. consumer and some producers as well. Prices are going to go up for everybody. There will be job losses, probably," said Katherine Schmeiser Lande, professor of economics at Mount Holyoke College, in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) recently.
Experts also noted that as the U.S. enforces its tariff measures, other nations are likely to respond with countermeasures, and this could hit U.S. exports, particularly farm products like soybeans, which heavily rely on foreign markets.
Ultimately, they warned, such policies could harm U.S. farmers and businesses.
"It might lower the price for U.S. consumers, but we can't necessarily absorb all that excess. So this could be really problematic for farmers, and it could lead to a situation where they actually need government subsidies, which is a whole other issue," said Lande.
The stock market has already reacted sharply to tariff-related uncertainty.
In March, the indexes of Nasdaq and Standard and Poor 500 fell 8.21 percent and 5.75 percent, respectively, their worst monthly declines since December 2022.
Economists warn of further volatility as trade tensions continue to weigh on investor confidence.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs recently released a report stating that as U.S. tariff policies disrupt global trade and financial markets, the likelihood of a recession in the U.S. within the next 12 months has risen to 35 percent.
Since protectionism is at the heart of Trump's foreign policy, Malgorzata Bonikowska, president of the Center for International Relations in Poland, stressed that Europe will not bow to U.S. pressure, believing that the continent will respond firmly to its aggressive tariff measures.
"European Union does not want any trade war. We support World Trade Organization. We support multilateralism. So we don't like this approach of Trump administration and we regret. But if Trump pushes us, then we will look around. We have to do trade with other partners as well. So, it's not only the U.S. which is our trade and investment partner. We regret, but we definitely will not be weak in this regard," she said in another recent CCTV interview.
US “reciprocal tariffs” to harm itself, incur countermeasures: experts
