According to the data of Canalys, a market research institution, the growth rate of the global electric vehicle market slowed down to 27.1% in 2024. The main reason is that the decline of subsidies in various countries weakened the attractiveness of electric vehicles to consumers, and the slowdown of the growth rate of electric vehicles made the whole automobile industry to walk on eggs. Under the background of increasingly tense global economic situation, automobile manufacturers and their suppliers are facing significant challenges in the market prospect of electric vehicles. The effects of the economic slowdown have triggered a string of corporate bankruptcies, forcing companies to postpone planned initial public offerings. In addition, in order to cope with market pressure, many companies have to reduce the production of electric vehicles.
Figure 1: CATL provides battery products for almost all electric vehicle manufacturers (Source from Xinhua News Agency)
However, facing the slowdown of global electric vehicle sales growth, CATL, a world-class Chinese battery manufacturer, is actively expanding. Zeng Robin, president and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., said that he was not worried about overcapacity, and CATL would increase the output of higher-tech products. As early as the interview in 2020, Zeng Robin said that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. had found a solution to shorten the battery charging time to 10 minutes, and was working towards further shortening the charging time. It has been said that it is necessary to further expand more advanced technologies and meet the needs of consumers, such as products with shorter charging time and good performance at low temperature. Therefore, CATL is trying to study solutions, including but not limited to more advanced sodium ion batteries. Although sodium batteries perform better than lithium ions in cold climate, and the overall cost may be lower than lithium ion batteries, lithium ions have been mass-produced at present, while the industrial chain of sodium ion batteries has not been built. Therefore, sodium ions will not become popular quickly in a short time. CATL took the lead in the global battery market with its inexpensive battery products, which used lithium iron phosphate (LEP) as the cathode material. Sodium ion chemicals provide excellent energy density, so that drivers can travel longer distances after charging. It has been said that CATL company will make up for the low energy density of sodium ion batteries by mixing lithium electronic batteries with these batteries. In addition, CATL company has developed a battery with a cruising range of 1,000 kilometers, and is studying condensed matter battery, which is said to be suitable for aircraft.
Despite its strong technical background, CATL also felt the impact of the slowdown in the growth of electric vehicle market. The company's market value has shrunk dramatically to about half since it reached a high of 1.6 trillion yuan in December 2021. In that year, the retail sales of new energy vehicles (including hybrid and pure electric vehicles) in China nearly doubled. According to the forecast of China Passenger Car Association, the market expansion rate this year may slow down from 36% in 2023 to 25%.
Although the United States has introduced a series of policies to boycott Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers led by CATL and BYD, he has said that CATL company has established a stable relationship with trustworthy partners. He downplayed the threat of a series of policies in the United States, saying that the bill only provides temporary protection for the American automobile industry. The future Ningde era will pay more attention to technological innovation.
