China Car Batteries: It’s the Technology

The standard story is that the Chinese government has decided to “corner” the world market for electric vehicles. The most expensive and important component for an electric vehicle (“EV”) is the battery pack. So the the logic goes that the first step in this plan is for Chinese companies to dominate production of EV batteries.

The recent Shenzhen stock exchange IPO of Ningde, Fujian based Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) has been seen as a key phase of this process. According to the press reports, CATL raised USD $830 million in its IPO completed on June 10. Though far less than the $2.0 billion CATL had originally planned to raise, this is nonetheless a substantial sum.

CATL plans to use the proceeds from its IPO to buildd new production capacity for 24Gwh of batteries focused on the EV market. CATL plans for its Ningde facility to become the largest EV battery maker in the world, with a final projected capacity of 50 Gwh scheduled to come on line by 2020. This can be compared with the Tesla Nevada Gigafactory 1 which is projected for 34Gwh capacity.

Though this is a considerable achievement for a company located in the isolated country town of Ningde, its significance is not as reported. The real issue here is not the Chinese government’s decision to promote high volume manufacturing of a basic industrial product. The issue is rather with the technology behind the product and the control of that technology. Production within China may become controlled by Chinese owned companies, just the way so many other basic industrial commodities are under such control today. But it is unlikely China will develop new EV technology through indigenous innovation. That is where the real challenge rests.

Consider the basic issues:

1. CATL’s advantage rests almost entirely on China’s preferential policies. First, the Chinese government is providing substantial subsidies to EVs for domestic transport. Second, the Chinese government has set the rules so that only EVs using product from Chinese battery makers (CATL and BYD) qualify for these subsidies. This is not a market phenomenon, it is simply an artifact of Chinese government subsidies. This means CATL is entirely dependent on the subsidy program. If the subsidies end, the CATL market advantage disappears
2. Production of EV batteries in China is largely irrelevant to U.S. EV manufacturers. Batteries are heavy and dangerous and so battery manufacturers seek to locate as close to vehicle manufacturers as possible because long distance shipping is not practical. China is currently the largest market in the world for EVs so the big battery manufacturers are moving as much production capacity to China as possible. Panasonic, LG Chem and Samsung are major players that have invested heavily in China production. Even Tesla has announced plans for a battery gigafactory in China. But the key is that the production for those factories is limited to China EVs. Regardless of the capacity built in China, it will have little impact on the market for EV batteries in the United States or in Europe.
3. What CATL is doing is just old fashioned Chinese industrial policy. It is manufacturing a product that has mostly become a commodity. Its strategy is to make an “adequate” product in high volume, competing almost solely on price. In 2017, CATL reduced its product price by 30%. As it expands production, further price reductions are expected. Usually this policy leads to overproduction and value/market destruction and this could happen in China as CATL and BYD and others engage in a race to the bottom. However, unlike what Chinese industry has done in steel and electronics, this race to the bottom will not have a major impact on world markets because the product cannot be readily exported. The situation is more like that of cement in China: the destructive industrial policy has no impact on the rest of the world because the product cannot be exported.

The real issue here is that CATL is investing huge sums in manufacturing a product with a less than rosy future. CATL makes old generation versions of lithium cobalt oxide batteries. Though lithium is readily available, cobalt is rare and expensive. More importantly, it is well known in the EV world that lithium cobalt batteries do not have the energy density to compete with petroleum based engine systems and other battery types are already being developed to replace lithium cobalt. Though lithium remains a constant, other metals such as manganese, nickel and even iron are being developed as alternatives to cobalt.

Though CATL appears to have a large R&D department, it does not seem to engage in its own cutting edge research related to developing the new generation of EV batteries. R&D for CATL is confined to two areas: a) additional cost cutting and b) assimilating existing battery technology developed outside China. As CATL continues cutting its prices, its ability to do cutting edge research and development will likely be further constrained.

So what’s the real take away here? CATL and other Chinese EV battery makers do not need help on the investment and production side. They have that covered. But they need access to evolving battery technologies to achieve increased energy density, reduced material costs, reduced weight and increased safety. In other words, we should expect them to fall back on another standard Chinese industrial policy strategy: assimilation of foreign developed technology.

What I expect to see in the next decade of electric vehicles in China is an avid interest in foreign technology in all related fields, centering on power supply (batteries/rechargers) and on vehicle technology. Chinese companies will use all the standard techniques that we have discussed on this blog to try to acquire foreign technologies that are already rampant in the auto tech and other high tech industries: The question is not so much what the Chinese companies will attempt to achieve; the question is whether foreign developers of these critical technologies will give them away or demand adequate compensation.

For more on the “giving away” intellectual property to China versus getting adequately compensated for it, check out the following:

• How to Give Away your IP in China Without Realizing it
• Chinese Companies Investing in American Companies: Meet The Free Look Investment Scheme
• Chinese Companies and MOUs: Meet the Free Look Scheme, Part 2
• China Joint Ventures: Meet the Free Look Scheme, Part 3

And for more on China IP issues directly related to the automative industry, check out China IP Challenges for Automotive Suppliers.

We will be discussing the practical aspects of Chinese law and how it impacts business there. We will be telling you what works and what does not and what you as a businessperson can do to use the law to your advantage. Our aim is to assist businesses already in China or planning to go into China, not to break new ground in legal theory or policy.