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HONG KONG—The chairman of China’s battery-making champion said he isn’t fazed by rising geopolitical tensions over the control of future technologies, as the company sets its sights on expanding in the U.S. Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles, is in talks with Tesla and other automakers to license its battery technology in the U.S., instead of building its own battery plant there, Robin Zeng, founder and chairman of the company known as CATL, told The WSJ. The scale of cooperation and other details about what Tesla would license from CATL, based in Ningde, China, is still being discussed and would depend on the carmaker’s cash flow, Zeng said. “Geopolitics is a very transitory issue. Each government administration only lasts four or five years, but business relationships last for decades,” Zeng said. He added that CATL’s technologies were unlikely to be embroiled in a wider tech war as governments globally are focused on combating climate change. CATL is already licensing its technology to Ford Motor to help the American carmaker produce vehicle batteries at a plant in Michigan. Ford owns and operates the factory, paying royalties to CATL for the batteries produced. The Chinese company’s Ford partnership will be the model for similar cooperation with other carmakers in the U.S., Zeng said. In recent months, U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about links between the Chinese battery juggernaut and China’s ruling Communist Party. Last September, Ford paused construction of its $3.5 billion battery plant amid months of scrutiny by lawmakers on its partnership with CATL.  Ford has since restarted building the factory, which is part of its strategy to produce lower-cost batteries to reduce EV price tags for drivers. In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act aims to shut out batteries and critical minerals from so-called foreign entities of concern over the next two years, a move industry players say is meant to reduce China’s involvement in the supply chain of the U.S. EV industry. Starting in 2025, buyers of cars that use Chinese suppliers would be ineligible for a $7,500 clean-vehicle tax credit. The law has already pushed some Chinese battery-materials makers to look for ways to bypass the rules, including by forming joint ventures with U.S. free-trade partners such as South Korea and Morocco in the hopes of qualifying for U.S. subsidies so they can more easily expand in the U.S. 

🔍 Innovation Wars: Tesla vs BYD - A Tale of Two Patent Strategies Fascinating insights from AutoEvolution's latest analysis: While BYD dominates in patent quantity, Tesla's strategic approach tells a different story. Our research reveals Tesla's patents pack a powerful punch—valued at 5x the global average. Key findings: 💡 BYD: Leading the numbers game with aggressive patent filing ⚡ Tesla: Fewer patents but significantly higher impact and value 🌐 A strategic divergence that's reshaping the global EV landscape bit.ly/4082lOV #EV #Innovation #Tesla #BYD #PatentStrategy #IP #ElectricVehicles #Innovation #Tesla #BYD #AutomotiveTech #Patents #EVIndustry #FutureOfMobility

autoevolution dives into our analysis, exploring the untold story of patent strategies behind Tesla and BYD's battle for EV market dominance. While BYD leads in sheer patent volume, Tesla takes the quality crown with patents 5x more valuable than the global average. It’s a fascinating clash of strategies—quantity vs. quality—unfolding across global markets. Read the full breakdown here: bit.ly/3BztmBi #EV #Innovation #Tesla #BYD #PatentStrategy #IP

autoevolution dives into our analysis, exploring the untold story of patent strategies behind Tesla and BYD's battle for EV market dominance. While BYD leads in sheer patent volume, Tesla takes the quality crown with patents 5x more valuable than the global average. It’s a fascinating clash of strategies—quantity vs. quality—unfolding across global markets. Read the full breakdown here: bit.ly/3Pfbvml #EV #Innovation #Tesla #BYD #PatentStrategy #IP

autoevolution dives into our analysis, exploring the untold story of patent strategies behind Tesla and BYD's battle for EV market dominance. While BYD leads in sheer patent volume, Tesla takes the quality crown with patents 5x more valuable than the global average. It’s a fascinating clash of strategies—quantity vs. quality—unfolding across global markets. Read the full breakdown here: bit.ly/41Cf4Ky #EV #Innovation #Tesla #BYD #PatentStrategy #IP

autoevolution dives into our analysis, exploring the untold story of patent strategies behind Tesla and BYD's battle for EV market dominance. While BYD leads in sheer patent volume, Tesla takes the quality crown with patents 5x more valuable than the global average. It’s a fascinating clash of strategies—quantity vs. quality—unfolding across global markets. Read the full breakdown here: bit.ly/3DrsE9J #EV #Innovation #Tesla #BYD #PatentStrategy #IP

As Volkswagen does the unthinkable and closes factories in Germany (which has never happened before), and shuttles tens of thousands of workers (along with other automakers, such as Stellantis), the advent of largely unwanted electric vehicles marches on, with China leading the way. Other than China, the rest of the world now realizes that EVs (and EV infrastructure) is not the long term answer. Beijing has the technological prowess, as well as the homegrown requisite battery metals and rare earths, to dominate the EV space, and in time export their inexpensive EVs throughout the EU and the United States (possibly via a stopover in Mexico). In the US, there are so many stranded projects, causing untold capital destruction, which have zero current economic value without IRA subsidies, which may not be around in its present format during the term of the next president, no matter who wins the upcoming election. Subsidies or not, bad business is indeed always, in the long run, bad business. Hydrogen fuel cells (which Elon Musk comically refers to as "fool cells") are also not the answer, in my humble opinion. Perhaps there is a case for ICE/EV hybrids as an add on alternative to traditional ICE. As I have pontificated for the past four or five years, often on LinkedIn, EVs are not "clean", are largely unwanted both by ICE owners as well as early adopter EV owners, and empowers China as a global business threat to auto industries both in the US and throughout the EU.

As a country, what is the point of throwing a wrench in its own works (Q1, Q2, Q3)?  Q1: "Tesla and CATL are working on an agreement to license CATL technology for battery production in Nevada. A person familiar with the matter said that the deal is expected to launch in 2025." Q2: "Goldstein added he expects Tesla to continue its partnerships with CATL because of the importance of the company's relationships with the Chinese government. Upending those ties 'could potentially be worse than any political ramifications in the U.S.,' he said." Q3: "CATL's deal with Tesla is modeled after an existing CATL partnership with Ford Motor, which plans to start producing low-cost lithium-iron batteries by 2026 using technology licensed from CATL at a plant in Michigan." https://lnkd.in/gN9Y2Dz7

The Tesla-Biden Rift: What’s Really Happening? ⚡️ Elon Musk’s Tesla just took a stand against President Biden’s proposal to ban Chinese tech components in American cars—sparking fresh tension with the White House as election day looms. Tesla’s position? The proposed restrictions are a “massive, unnecessary regulatory reporting regime” that could weigh down American automakers already facing stiff competition from China. Imagine this: car manufacturers might soon have to supply detailed data on every high-tech part from foreign suppliers to ensure they’re not sourced from China or Russia. And with Tesla’s massive presence in China (where they sold over 600,000 cars last year), could this ban backfire? Tesla’s trade counsel Miriam Eqab didn’t hold back, stating that the new rules “add unneeded regulatory burdens on software designed by non-US persons.” While Biden argues the move is about national security, there’s no doubt the impacts will be felt across the industry. 🔍 What do you think? Is this policy a crucial safeguard, or will it ultimately stifle innovation in the EV sector? P.S. Let’s hear your thoughts on how governments should balance innovation and security in the auto industry.

autoevolution dives into our analysis, exploring the untold story of patent strategies behind Tesla and BYD's battle for EV market dominance. While BYD leads in sheer patent volume, Tesla takes the quality crown with patents 5x more valuable than the global average. It’s a fascinating clash of strategies—quantity vs. quality—unfolding across global markets. Read the full breakdown here: https://hubs.ly/Q02_NQ2K0 #EV #Innovation #Tesla #BYD #PatentStrategy #IP