According to Bloomberg, the Chinese government's policy of promoting plug-in hybrid vehicles has propelled the development of the electric vehicle battery industry. Under such circumstances, Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., the second largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer in China, is currently planning to conduct its first public offering to raise funds for further expansion.
Yang Qi, the Marketing Director of CATL, stated in an interview that the company plans to go public on the stock market as soon as possible. At that time, this lithium-ion battery manufacturer will invest the raised funds in the construction of a new factory. He also predicts that CATL will experience a tenfold increase in revenue by 2020, reaching the level of 50 billion to 100 billion yuan.
Last year, the delivery volume of electric vehicles in China tripled, surpassing the United States to become the world's largest electric vehicle market. Battery manufacturers have expanded their production capacity to meet the growing sales volume of plug-in hybrid vehicles. According to estimates from Merrill Lynch, global demand for automotive batteries is expected to increase fivefold by 2020, with Chinese battery manufacturing accounting for over half of global production capacity.
Yang Qi said last week, "The growth rate of the new energy vehicle market is faster than we expected. Due to market demand gathering with the best companies in this industry, our company's order demand is currently very high
Capacity building
Yang Qi stated that CATL's total shipment volume last year was 2.4 gigawatt hours, and this year's planned production capacity is 2-3 times that of last year. The company has currently built two factories in China and will soon invest in building a third domestic factory. CATL has established cooperative relationships with companies such as BAIC Group and Geely Automobile, and its efforts to explore international markets have also shown initial results. Meanwhile, CATL is actively evaluating the construction of its first overseas factory in Europe and seeking business opportunities with American automakers. Yang Qi said that CATL has currently reached cooperation agreements with three European car manufacturers. According to reports, well-known manufacturer BMW is one of them.
CATL was established in 2011 by dismantling the power battery business of ATL. Merrill Lynch Bank stated that CATL is expected to surpass BYD Battery, which has Buffett's investment, and become the industry leader in China's battery manufacturing by 2018.
As for other competitors, such as Wanxiang Group, they have acquired A123 Systems and Fisker Automotive, and are planning to establish an electric vehicle factory in Hangzhou.
Chinese factory
Many Japanese and Korean companies are also opening factories in China. Samsung SDI and LG Chem have established factories in Xi'an and Nanjing respectively; The world's largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer, Panasonic Group, is also building a factory in Dalian and is expected to start production in 2017.
Bloomberg's new energy finance analyst Zheng Hu said, "With many companies announcing ambitious battery production plans, competition in this field has become increasingly fierce
At present, domestic battery suppliers benefit from the government's policy support for related industries, while Japanese and Korean battery manufacturers are still excluded from the list of enjoying Chinese government subsidies.
Yang Qi stated that CATL has begun to prepare for the moment when subsidy advantages are no longer available. He said, "What we can do is to become strong and then step onto the world stage to compete with foreign car manufacturers