Last month, Tesla announced a new, low-cost, million-mile battery created by China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL). The company now says that they are ready to manufacture the factory which can power an electric vehicle for 1.2 million miles for as long as 16 years.
Other electric car companies are only able to have three to eight-year-old car batteries that can only power the vehicle for 60,000 to 150,000 miles. Although CATL will be supplying for Tesla, Elon Musk is not an exclusive customer. Zeng Yuqun, the company's chairman said that 'If someone places an order, we are ready to produce.'
They have not revealed who they intend to supply. CATL will be adding a 10% premium for their initial customers. The Chinese company has already signed two-year deals will Tesla Model 3 cars back in February. Their other clients are Daimler, Honda, Volkswagen, Volvo, BMW, and Toyota.
The chairman is also anticipating a rapid rate of return for the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry, believing that although the pandemic may have decreased sales this year, demand will increase by early 2021. 'The pandemic may have a lasting effect throughout 2020, but won't be a major factor next year,' said Zeng. 'We have great confidence in the long run.'
Electric Vehicle Market
The Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Electric Vehicle Outlook 2019 report estimates that EVs will be 50% of all owned cars by 2040. Colin McMerracher from BNEF said 'Our conclusions are stark for fossil fuel use in road transport. Electrification will still take time because the global fleet changes over slowly but, once it gets rolling in the 2020s, it starts to spread to many other areas of road transport. We see a real possibility that global sales of conventional passenger cars have already passed their peak.'
Canalys, a research firm, has determined that in Europe, the market for EVs and plug-in hybrids grew by 72% in the first quarter of 2020, which is representing 7% of all newly delivered cars. But, the pandemic has caused a 26% decrease in the international market of EV deliveries. Chris Jones, Canalys' chief automotive analyst said that 'It is likely to be used as a differentiator by some car-makers when there is a significant difference from one vehicle to another - dramatically affecting resale value.'
He referred to CATL's new claims, saying that they are significant yet difficult to verify. Chris also explained that if motorists would see more charging stations as well as have longer drive ranges because of better batteries, then they may be more inclined to switch to an EV.
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European Developments
Grant Shapps, the UK Transport Secretary said this February that by 2032, the nation might ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars in view of their zero-carbon emission targets. Yesterday, it was reported that the government is considering to offer up to $7,600 for drivers to switch from their current cars to an EV by July to boost the local electric car manufacturing industry. Nissan EV models already exist, but Tesla might consider opening a new Gigafactory battery plant in England in the near future.
CATL has focused its production in Germany where they have begun building a factory in a town called Erfurt. They are scheduled to produce lithium-ion car batteries by next year.
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