宁德时代新能源科技股份有限公司CATL将为下一代宝马电动汽车提供圆柱形电池

2023年宝马iXM60外观

2022年5月28日下午2：18美国东部时间

作者：马克凯恩

从2025年开始，宁德时代新能源科技股份有限公司CATL（以下简称宁德时代CATL）将为宝马的电动汽车提供圆柱形锂离子电池。

宁德时代CATL通过路透社宣布了这个消息，并证实与宝马签署了协议，详细说明将由宝马稍后公布。

中国电池巨头宁德时代CATL上周五表示，将从2025年开始为宝马提供圆柱形电池，为其新系列电动汽车提供动力。

宁德时代CATL已经与宝马签署了一项协议，并被提名为这家德国汽车制造商的圆柱形电池供应商……”

尽管如此，考虑到德国制造商到目前为止还依赖于棱柱形单元电池，而且它也是宁德时代CATL生产的主要类型，这是相当令人惊讶的。

如果从棱柱形到圆柱形单元格式的转换是正确的，那么这背后肯定有一个严重的问题。

本月早些时候，我们听说宝马将在其下一代平台“NeueKlasse”中使用圆柱形电池，因为这种类型的电池有可能降低电池系统成本百分之三十（与棱柱形相比）。彭博社当时的报道是基于“熟悉该计划的人”的非官方信息。

宝马集团的电池供应商名单包括三星SDI、宁德时代CATL，以及EVE能源和诺斯伏特Northvolt。据传言称，宝马希望从现有的合作伙伴那里采购圆柱形电池单元。

“圆柱形”这个词至关重要，但并没有说明确切格式。特斯拉最近推出了4680型圆柱形电池的内部生产，比2170和以前的1865有所提高。

BluumbergNEF指出，在2021年，汽车制造商平均每千瓦时电池支付118美元，而电池芯类型通常占电池系统成本的五分之四。

由于电池材料成本的大幅增加，制造商们正在考虑如何降低成本。彭博社的报道表明，切换到圆柱形格式将会帮助降低成本。当然只有时间才能说明问题，但特斯拉的高运营利润率可能是另一个指标。

消息来源：路透社，彭博社

马克凯恩

作者：马克凯恩

+CATL Will Supply Cylindrical Battery Cells For Next Gen BMW EVs

Is BMW going Tesla's way?

2023 BMW iX M60 exterior

May 28, 2022 at 2:18pm ET

By: Mark Kane

CATL will be supplying BMW with cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles, starting from 2025.

This interesting news was announced by CATL (via Reuters), which has confirmed the signing of an agreement with BMW, but without elaborating on it. We guess that details will be announced later by BMW itself.

"Chinese battery giant CATL on Friday said it will start supplying cylindrical cells to BMW from 2025 to power its new series of electric vehicles.

The battery maker has signed an agreement with BMW in which it is nominated as the supplier of the cylindrical cells for the German carmaker..."

Nonetheless, it's pretty surprising considering that the German manufacturer so far was relying on prismatic cell format and that it's also the main type produced by CATL.

If the switch from the prismatic to cylindrical cell format at scale is true, then there must be a serious reason behind it.

Earlier this month, we heard a rumor that BMW is going to use cylindrical battery cells in its next-generation platform “Neue Klasse”, as this type of battery has the potential to lower battery system cost by as much as 30% (compared to prismatic format). Bloomberg's report at the time was based on unofficial input from "people familiar with the plans."

The list of BMW Group's battery cell suppliers includes Samsung SDI, CATL, as well as EVE Energy and Northvolt. According to the rumor, BMW would like to source cylindrical battery cells from existing partners.

The word "cylindrical" is crucial but does not say what exact format is on the table. Tesla recently launched in-house production of the 4680-type cylindrical cell, which is a step up from the 2170-type and previous 1865-type.

BloombergNEF notes that in 2021, carmakers paid an average $118 per kWh of battery, on the pack level, and the battery cells typically make up four-fifths of the price of a battery system cost.

Due to a substantial increase in battery materials costs, manufacturers are looking at how to bring the costs down. The Bloomberg report suggests that the switch to the cylindrical cell format would help to lower costs. Well, only time will tell, but Tesla's high operating margins might be another indicator of that.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

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