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CATL targets battery JVs with Europe in 2025: Davos

  • Spanish Market: Battery materials
  • 22/01/25

The world's largest battery maker, CATL, is looking to sign more joint ventures (JVs) with European carmakers this year, co-chair Pan Jian said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.

"It's not healthy to concentrate too much production capacity in one space," Jian said, suggesting CATL is looking to diversify its production plants worldwide in case of supply chain bottlenecks.

CATL last month announced a JV for a 50GWh plant in Zaragoza, northeastern Spain, with Franco-Italian-American car conglomerate Stellantis, owner of 14 brands including Fiat, Jeep, Chrysler and Alfa Romeo.

The firm operates at 13 plants worldwide, including 11 in China and two in Germany and Hungary. And the firm has construction plans in Indonesia, Thailand, as well as with Ford in the US state of Michigan and with Tesla in Nevada.

CATL also supplies top models such as Tesla models 3 and Y, BMW iX, Mercedes EQ series and Volkswagen iD series in China.

Software development key to EV success

While electric vehicle (EV) sales in China surged by nearly 40pc last year, sales figures were more mixed in Europe and the US, with growth in the UK and the US, but sales falling in Germany and France.

"The bottleneck really lies in the software development capability [of legacy carmakers]," Jian said, adding the example of US carmaker Ford, which has an "internal, traditional culture [that] they need to break through", despite its "visionary" chief executive, Jim Farley.

German carmaker Volkswagen is hoping to make itself an exception, after having announced a 49:51 JV with Chinese tech firm Thundersoft in 2023 to develop connectivity and infotainment, to build "innovative and smart cockpits", among other features.

The firm also bought a 5pc stake in Chinese EV maker Xpeng in 2023 and announced a charging partnership earlier this month. Volkswagen's battery EV (BEV) sales in China last year rose by 8.1pc to 207,400 units.

Elsewhere, western carmakers have struggled to integrate tech into EVs. US carmaker General Motors incurred a $600mn loss last year after ending production of its Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle.

US tech giant Amazon also invested heavily in Rivian in 2019, which has struggled to scale up sales and fallen behind as the fifth-largest EV maker in the US past year, far behind Tesla.

Autonomous driving start-up Waymo, owned by Alphabet, last May was reportedly being investigated by US safety regulators following a series of crashes involving its autonomous robotaxis.

And US tech giant Apple cancelled plans last February to launch a self-driving EV after spending $10bn on the project, codenamed ‘Titan'. British firm Dyson, known for making hoovers and hair dryers, cancelled its own EV plans in 2019.


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11/02/25

China’s BYD to add DeepSeek AI to its affordable EVs

China’s BYD to add DeepSeek AI to its affordable EVs

London, 11 February (Argus) — China's largest electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD on Tuesday announced plans to integrate software from AI start-up DeepSeek into 21 of its models at no extra cost, including one model under $10,000. All models with the God's Eye advanced driver assistant software (ADAS) will come at no extra cost, chairman Wang Chuanfu told an event livestreamed from Shenzhen. Chuanfu said autonomous driving would no longer be a rarity but a "necessary tool", one that will become an "indispensable tool like safety belts and airbags" within a few years. BYD said it would offer advanced autonomous driving features on all of its 18 models priced above 100,000 yuan ($13,686). The carmaker will also include AI on three models below Yn100,000. BYD had previously only offered ADAS on models above $30,000, in line with US EV maker Tesla, which has similar features on its EVs priced above $32,000. The system includes remote parking and autonomous highway navigation. Smart driving features in EVs require Argus -assessed metals such as gallium — in gallium nitride — and germanium in semiconductors. AI growth and data centre demand is expected to increase the use of compound semiconductor materials including gallium nitride, gallium arsenide and indium phosphide. BYD sold around 4.2mn EVs last year in China — including battery EVs (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) — dominating the domestic market of 11mn EVs, up by 40pc on the year (see graphs) . DeepSeek integration threatens exports The integration of AI into BYD cars is the latest indication that competition in the Chinese EV market is hotting up, although several market participants fear that the integration of DeepSeek AI may threaten sales into export markets, particularly the US, where there is antipathy towards Chinese AI. Chinese EV maker Leapmotor, partner of carmaker Stellantis in Europe, launched its own smart-driving EV on Tuesday priced under Yn150,000 ($20,535), using its own AI. Prior to BYD, the cheapest affordable EV with comparable smart driving features was SAIC-GM-Wuling's $15,000 Baojun Yunhal model. Other Chinese EV makers have also announced integration of DeepSeek technology into their models. Chinese carmaker Geely Group — parent to brands such as Volvo and Polestar — announced that it will integrate the DeepSeek R1 model into its EVs, alongside its own Xingrui AI model, which it announced that it was training last month. It has largely distinguished software in its Geely brand The future of EVs is an "electric intelligence vehicle", Pan Jian, co-chair of CATL , the world's largest battery maker, said at the World Economic Forum last month, with intelligence fast becoming inseparable from EVs. By Chris Welch Global EV battery installations 2023-24 GWh Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Japan’s domestic EV sales extend fall in January


07/02/25
07/02/25

Japan’s domestic EV sales extend fall in January

Tokyo, 7 February (Argus) — Japanese domestic sales of passenger electric vehicles (EVs) fell for a 15th consecutive month in January, but the decrease rate has slowed. Sales totalled 4,563 units in January 2025, down by 2pc from a year earlier, according to data from three industry groups — the Automobile Dealers Association, the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association and the Japan Automobile Importers Association (JAIA). Sales were also down by 12pc on the month. Domestic EV sales continued to fall on the year but the decrease rate slowed in January, marking the first single-digit fall on the year since November 2023. EVs accounted for 1.4pc of Japan's total domestic passenger car sales in January, down by 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier. The decline is mostly because of weaker demand for domestic brand EVs including Toyota. Toyota's EV sales declined sharply to 68 units, down by 74pc from a year earlier. Foreign brand EV sales continued its uptrend, according to JAIA's representative who spoke to Argus . Sales of foreign brand passenger EVs increased by 3.6pc on the year to 1,209 units, marking the third consecutive month of year-on-year growth. But sales from China's BYD fell sharply by around 80pc on the year to 42 units, mostly on the back of delivery suspensions, JAIA added. Imported EVs accounted for around 26pc of Japan's total domestic EV sales. This was largely stable on the year, but down by 31 percentage points from a month earlier. Foreign brand manufacturers tend to increase their sales in December, according to JAIA, leading to relatively lower deliveries in January. By Yusuke Maekawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US Li salts imports dropped in 2024


06/02/25
06/02/25

US Li salts imports dropped in 2024

Houston, 6 February (Argus) — The US imported 16,170 metric tonnes (t) of lithium salts in 2024, down by 11pc from the prior year, driven by inventory destocking and a slower-than-expected adoption of electric vehicles. Price declines and limited shelf-life prompted US importers to consume lower stocks, while a shift towards lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries led to a change in preference for lithium carbonate. Imports of lithium oxide and hydroxide fell by 25pc to 705 tonnes in 2024, while lithium carbonate imports decreased by 10pc to 15,465 tonnes, according to the US Census Bureau. Lithium hydroxide is primarily used in the production of high-energy-density batteries, while lithium carbonate is more commonly utilized in the manufacture of LFP batteries. Argus -assessed prices for 99.5pc grade lithium carbonate fell by 31pc over 2024, reaching $9.1-9.4/kg cif China on 31 December. Chile and Argentina accounted for 98pc of the material, supplying 9,105t and 6,779t, respectively. By Carol Luk Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Japan’s Honda, Nissan mull scrapping merger plan


06/02/25
06/02/25

Japan’s Honda, Nissan mull scrapping merger plan

Tokyo, 6 February (Argus) — Japanese car maker Honda and Nissan are considering ending merger talks, a representative of Honda told Argus today. Ending negotiations for proposed merger is among the issues the two firms are discussing, Honda's representative told Argus on 6 February, without providing further details. Honda will make an official announcement regarding the deal, including its course of action, in mid-February, according to statements released by the firm on 5 February. Nissan similarly commented that the firms are "in the stage of advancing various discussions", according to a statement the company separately released on 5 February. This includes "the contents of the report", the statement said, referring to the local news story about a possible withdrawal from the basic merger agreement with Honda. Nissan reiterated that the report is not based on any official announcement from the company. This comes only several weeks after the firms launched formal merger negotiations in late December 2024. This included setting up a joint holding company under which the current brands would operate as subsidiaries. The merger plan was partly aimed at jointly developing electric vehicles (EVs) along with studying possible areas of co-operation in developing automotive software platforms, core components relating to EVs and complementary products. Tough negotiation was anticipated from the beginning partly because of Nissan's financial struggles. Honda had suggested the merger plan could be scrapped depending on Nissan's turnaround, reiterating that the proposed merger is not aimed at alleviating Nissan's financial situation. By Yusuke Maekawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

German EV registrations rise on the month in January


05/02/25
05/02/25

German EV registrations rise on the month in January

London, 5 February (Argus) — New electric vehicle (EV) registrations in Germany rose on the month and on the year in January, data from motor transport authority KBA show. • New EV registrations rose by 937 units on the month to 34,498 in January, marking a 53.5pc increase on the year. Despite the rise, sales of EVs made by US carmaker Tesla declined significantly in Germany over the past year ( see graph ). • Plug-in hybrid registrations fell by 1,391 on the month to 17,712, but were up by 8.5pc on the year. • Registrations of other hybrid vehicles decreased by 11,318 from December to 59,252, but were up by 23.1pc on the year. • Gasoline-fuelled car registrations fell by 6,975 on the month to 62,358, and were down by 23.7pc from January last year. • Diesel-fuelled car registrations rose by 1,925 on the month to 32,956, but were down by 19.5pc on the year. • Average CO2 emissions fell slightly on the month to 113.6 g/km in January, down from 115.1 g/km in December. Average CO2 emissions were down 9.5pc on the year. By John Horstmann New German car registrations units Fuel Nov % of registrations ± Dec ± % Jan 2024 EVs 34,498 16.6 937 53.5 Plug-in hybrid 17,712 8.5 -1,391 23.1 Other hybrid 59,252 28.6 -11,318 13.7 Gasoline 62,358 30.0 -6,975 -23.7 Diesel 32,956 15.9 1,925 -19.5 LPG 859 0.4 -254 -54.8 Natural gas 0 0.0 0 -100.0 — KBA German monthly Tesla sales Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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