CATL has supplied EV batteries to S.Korea’s Kia – CATL spokesperson

The 2023 Kia Telluride is unveiled at the 2022 New York Worldwide Vehicle Clearly show, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

SHANGHAI/SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) – Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Engineering Co Ltd (CATL) has supplied electrical car or truck (EV) batteries to South Korea’s Kia Corp (000270.KS), the corporations claimed on Thursday, marking Kia’s first use of non-Korean EV batteries for product sales at dwelling.

The South Korean automaker, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), has decided on batteries from CATL for its electric powered Niro crossover SUV, aiming at expanding its vary of battery suppliers, a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“With income of its battery electric vehicles expanding globally, Kia is cooperating with different battery suppliers to diversify and stabilize battery provide,” Kia stated in a statement to Reuters, confirming the use of CATL’s batteries.

A CATL spokesperson also confirmed the report, with out elaborating.

CATL, whose purchasers involve Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), is the world’s greatest battery maker.

Industry tracker SNE Investigate claims the business has a share of a lot more than 35% of the booming world wide EV battery current market. Analysts say the marketplace is value tens of billions of dollars a 12 months.

For domestic EV gross sales, Hyundai Motor and Kia have earlier used only batteries from two South Korean corporations – LG Vitality Answer Ltd (373220.KS) and SK Innovation Co Ltd’s (096770.KS) SK On.

These battery makers and domestic peer Samsung SDI Co Ltd (096770.KS) collectively command additional than a quarter of the worldwide EV battery current market, according to SNE Investigate.

Reporting by Zhang Yan in Shanghai and Heekyong Yang in Seoul Enhancing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Bradley Perrett

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