On June 30, CATL officially commenced production at two CTP2.0 (Cell-to-Pack) high-end battery pack production lines within the “Seres Super Factory” in Chongqing. This marks CATL’s first operational base in Chongqing and, notably, its inaugural adoption of a “factory-in-factory” (FiF) collaboration model.

This “factory-in-factory” approach integrates core component suppliers directly into the vehicle manufacturing plant. According to Seres, this model enables production line adjustments based on company directives in under 20 minutes, with thousands of components supplied daily, and the turnaround is completed within the same day.

Dr. Robin Zeng, Chairman and CEO of CATL, stated, “The production line launched is CATL’s most advanced intelligent and digital production line.”

The strategic partnership between Seres and CATL dates back to August 2022, when they signed a strategic cooperation agreement that has since been deepened. Under this agreement, Aito vehicles will exclusively feature CATL power batteries for the next five years, with new Aito models fully integrating CATL’s Qilin batteries.

Aito is a joint project between Seres and Huawei. It is worth noting that this brand isn’t a joint venture. In July 2024, Seres bought the Aito trademark and patents from Huawei in a 2.5-million yuan (344 million USD) deal. Huawei still acts as a major parts and software supplier. Moreover, Huawei sells Aito-branded cars in its own HIMA sales network.

Positioned as a new luxury automotive brand, Aito has accumulated over 700,000 vehicles in market ownership, and Seres Super Factory in Chongqing is its important production hub.

CATL continues to maintain a strong foothold in the power battery market. Data from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance indicates that from January to May this year, China’s power battery installations totalled 241.4 GWh, representing a 50.4% year-over-year increase. CATL’s installations for the first five months totalled 103.20 GWh, accounting for 42.90% of the market, a slight decrease of 3.83 percentage points year-on-year.

Beyond power batteries, the collaboration between CATL and Seres extends into the zero-carbon domain. In April of this year, the two companies jointly completed and successfully grid-connected the first phase of a 50 MWh distributed photovoltaic project at the Seres Super Factory, providing the facility with core green energy.

Source: The Paper