- Robin Zeng, the billionaire founder of CATL, aims to reinvent the world’s largest battery maker as a green-energy provider and to slash the cost of developing electric vehicles.
- Zeng’s initiatives aim to unlock new growth for his 25-year-old enterprise, which got its first big break selling lithium-ion batteries for Apple’s iPod before pivoting to EVs in 2011 with a BMW supply deal.
Robin Zeng, the billionaire founder of CATL, aims to reinvent the world’s largest battery maker as a green-energy provider and to slash the cost of developing electric vehicles, upending the economics of the industry that has powered its growth.
Zeng said he expects the business of developing and managing “zero carbon” electric grids to be “ten times” larger than supplying electric vehicle batteries, a market CATL now leads with a 37 global share. CATL, he said, aims to build independent energy systems big enough to power a massive data centre or even a city.
In a separate strategic move, CATL plans to offer an off-the-shelf electric car platform with a long-range battery integrated into a chassis. Customers could then launch their own customised EVs by designing only the interior and exterior. The goal, Zeng said, is to sharply cut EV development costs – to millions of dollars from billions – and open the industry to new competitors.
Zeng’s initiatives aim to unlock new growth for his 25-year-old enterprise, which got its first big break selling lithium-ion batteries for Apple’s iPod before pivoting to EVs in 2011 with a BMW supply deal.
CATL sold $40 billion worth of EV batteries last year, up from $33 billion a year earlier. Hitting Zeng’s goal for electric grids of tenfold revenue growth would put the battery maker on par with state oil giants Sinopec and PetroChina, China’s largest companies.
Zeng also discussed the battery giant’s readiness to invest in the United States if President-elect Donald Trump opens the door, the path to profit for its European factories, and why the industry’s fixation on solid-state batteries as the next big breakthrough is misplaced.
CATL’s energy-storage business grew 33 per cent last year, outpacing its EV-battery business. But Zeng sees a much bigger opportunity for CATL by supplying green-grid systems including solar and wind power, dedicated storage and a smart system to draw power from parked EVs.
China has the world’s highest EV-adoption rates; EVs and hybrids have accounted for more than half of all new cars sold there in recent months.
CATL, Zeng said, can build a zero-emissions grid big enough to power a massive mining complex or a city. The firm aims to go well beyond energy-storage and into power generation, Zeng said.
The grids, and CATL management systems, could serve AI companies scrambling to secure green energy for data centers. CATL would partner with providers of solar panels and wind turbines, Zeng said.
CATL plans a pilot project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with CMOC Group , the Chinese mining company in which it holds a stake. The company is also working with Hainan, an island province off China’s southern coast, on a larger, longer-term project that would combine energy storage with solar and offshore wind turbines.