CATL and SAIC Motor Sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement to Advance Power Battery Technology

On January 10, 2025, CATL announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with SAIC Motor in Ningde, Fujian. The signing ceremony was attended by Wang Xiaoqiu, Party Secretary and Chairman of SAIC Motor, and Zeng Yuqun, Chairman and CEO of CATL, along with other senior leaders.

According to the agreement, the two parties will jointly develop power battery products suitable for SAIC Motor’s vehicles, with CATL’s innovative technologies such as the Kirin and Shenxing batteries being prioritized for use in SAIC’s electric vehicles. CATL will become SAIC’s preferred supplier of automotive power batteries.

Additionally, the two companies will deepen cooperation in the vehicle and battery aftermarket sectors, exploring further development in areas such as charging station construction, used vehicle business, and battery second-life utilization and recycling. CATL will leverage its global resources and advantages to support SAIC Motor’s international expansion, helping to build overseas after-sales service networks and production bases to support "going global."

Regarding battery swapping, the two companies plan to cooperate in the development of the vehicle-battery separation business. SAIC Motor will develop and sell battery-swapping vehicles, while CATL and its affiliates will provide standardized swapping batteries and offer battery sales, leasing, and swapping services for these vehicles.

Since 2017, the cooperation between SAIC Motor and CATL has deepened continuously. By 2021, the first phase of the SAIC-CATL project had reached an annual production capacity of 26GWh. In 2024, the second-phase power battery project in Liyang, Jiangsu Province, officially received planning permission, marking the beginning of the construction phase. The project, with a total investment of 12 billion yuan and a planned capacity of 12GWh, is expected to be completed in 2024.

In June 2024, the SAIC-CATL project celebrated the production of the 500,000th battery pack (PACK) and the achievement of a total capacity of 100GWh, marking another significant milestone in their cooperation.

It is worth mentioning that in 2024, SAIC Motor was overtaken in the domestic sales rankings, losing its 18-year streak as the top-selling Chinese automaker. Its total wholesale sales were 4.013 million units, a decrease of 20.07% compared to the previous year. In comparison, BYD’s wholesale sales reached 4.2721 million units. Against this backdrop, the deepening cooperation with CATL seems to be SAIC’s strategy to strengthen its competitiveness in the new energy vehicle market.