CATL announced that its CIIC skateboard platform completed testing in China and achieved a 1,000 km range, consumption of 10.5 kWh/100km, and managed to charge 300 km in 5 minutes. The car it was sitting on was B class sedan, most likely from Neta.
The CIIC (CATL Integrated Intelligent Chassis) skateboard integrates batteries, electric motors, and other critical units into a single platform that underpins the EV (electric vehicle), lowering production cost, vehicle weight, and energy consumption while maximizing passenger space.
In January, the first partner that signed an agreement with CATL to use their skateboard chassis was Chinese EV builder Hozon Auto, who owns the Neta brand. Both companies partnered to develop the platform together and announced the first CIIC-powered model will be launched in Q3 2024. CIIC is supposed to bring a high level of integration between the car and chassis, reducing cost and the overall development cycle.
On November 30, CATL’s Chief Scientist Wu Kai announced at the Dishui Lake Summit of the International Automotive Conference that they had reached a breakthrough in CIIC development. It completed the winter testing in Heihe, northern China, and summer testing in Turpan, revealing the trial results. CIIC achieved a 1,000 km range, and battery pack efficiency was 75%. In low temperatures of -7 degrees, the range was reduced by 30%. The consumption was 10.5 kWh/km, and it can add 300 km in 5 minutes, according to CATL.
The company also announced that the CIIC integrates high-voltage and low-voltage systems, steering and braking systems, and chassis domain controllers and uses CTC (cell-to-chassis) tech. The mass production of the first EV with CIIC will start in the third quarter of next year.
Editor’s comment
So what is the next step for CATL – develop their own EV, and automakers will put their logo on it? Probably not, but it will be interesting to watch if CATL will get more companies on board the CIIC project, as the cost reduction and speeding up the development cycle would need to be significant, as most of the automobile manufacturers already have their chassis and platforms R&D. However, not all are happy with it, and legacy automakers might be potential target customers.
