Recently, CATL signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with NIO. The pair aim to cooperate in areas of new brands, overseas business expansion and long-life batteries.
On Jan. 17, China-based battery giant CATL (Chinese: 宁德时代) signed a comprehensive five-year strategic partnership agreement with Chinese EV maker NIO (Chinese: 蔚来汽车).
NIO and CATL are long-standing partners, as all of Nio EV's swappable batteries are supplied by CATL. According to CATL, the signing of the agreement is another deepening and upgrading of their strategic partnership, involving technical cooperation for new brands, projects and market. The partnership will also involve coordination of supply and demand, overseas business expansion, and cooperation in business models based on long-life batteries.
CATL and NIO will build a highly efficient and synergistic battery supply system based on advanced battery technology by making full use of their respective resource advantages, CATL said. This will help enhance innovation capabilities and efficiency, provide a more enjoyable travel experience for smart electric vehicle users, and contribute to enhancing the global competitiveness of China's NEV industry.
The agreement comes at an interesting time, as last week two new NIO models entered a draft catalog of vehicles that will soon be allowed to be sold in China, both of which include CATL's rival CALB as battery suppliers. The two new models are the NIO EC7, which was launched on NIO Day 2022, and the new ES6, which has yet to be officially launched.