SHANGHAI — Nio plans to build its first battery plant to produce big cylindrical cells similar to those used by Tesla, two people familiar with the matter said, as the Chinese EV maker seeks to cut its reliance on CATL for supplies.
The plant underscores Nio’s ambition to ramp up its presence in the electric-vehicle market at home and abroad. The Chinese company is also planning a factory in the neighboring city of Chuzhou to make budget EVs to sell in Europe.
The new battery plant will have an annual capacity to produce 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries, which can power about 400,000 units of long-range EVs, the people said on condition of anonymity as the matter is private.
It will be located next to its main manufacturing hub in Hefei city, in eastern China’s Anhui province, they said.
Reuters is reporting the details of Nio’s plan for the first time. The automaker did not respond to a request for comment.
Nio’s founder and chairman, William Li, had in June said that Nio would start making 800-volt lithium ion battery packs, which recharge faster, in the second half of 2024, as part of a plan similar to Tesla’s to use a combination of self-produced and externally sourced batteries in the long run.
He did not elaborate on the details at the time.
Like other unprofitable Chinese EV makers, Nio has been seeking to gain more control over batteries, the most expensive single-piece component, to improve its profitability.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. is currently Nio’s sole supplier of batteries for cars and battery swapping stations. Nio has a smaller battery-focused plant in Shanghai where it tests batteries.
CATL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
