Why China dominates the electrified vehicle age

While traditional brands busied themselves resisting the electric vehicle age, Chinese companies were concentrating on the future and are now reaping the rewards, while many established brands are facing market share and financial losses.

Already, China has overtaken Japan as the world’s leading automotive export country and that’s despite punitive import tariffs in the EU and North America. So, while they’re virtually blocked from the EU and USA, Chinese brands are making hay in other markets: Asia, SEA, Oceania, Africa and South America.

The USA and EU have virtually no Chinese EV imports, while US-brand and EU-brand EVs and hybrid EVs are experiencing sluggish sales, because their pricing is too high. That pricing is largely because the EU and USA don’t make many EV batteries. China got into the game early on and, in 2023, produced nearly two-thirds of the world’s EV and hybrid-EV batteries. That percentage certainly increased throughout 2024.

Another initiative that is bound to bear fruit in 2025 is an integrated ‘skateboard chassis’ that was launched in China, in late-2024. On December 24th, the Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited (CATL), by far the world’s largest producer of EV batteries, with around one third of the global market, officially launched the CATL Bedrock Chassis.

Launched by a CATL team, headed by Yang Hanbing, CEO of CATL and Ni Jun, chief manufacturing officer, the Bedrock Chassis utilised cell-to-chassis integration technology, which directly integrated the battery cells into the chassis, allowing for a shared structural design.

CATL’s Ni Jun

This product integrated an EV battery pack and vehicle chassis, and was billed as “the world’s first ultra-safe skateboard chassis”. It was tested to withstand a 120km/h frontal impact, without catching fire, exploding or suffering battery thermal runway. Currently, the speed for frontal impact safety test in the commonly used C-NCAP (China New Car Assessment Program) is 56km/h.

Without any strength contribution from the eventual upper body, the Bedrock Chassis was claimed capable of absorbing 85 percent of the vehicle’s collision energy, compared with around 60 percent absorbed by a traditional chassis.

At a speed of 120km/h, the impact pressure on the chassis per unit area in a frontal central pole impact is 21 times that of the 56km/h, full-width frontal impact in C-NCAP testing.

Submarine-grade, hot-formed steel with a strength of 2000MPa, aerospace-grade aluminium alloy with a strength of 600MPa and multiple barrier structures ensured the chassis’ rigidity, CATL said.

The CATL Bedrock Chassis incorporated a claimed ultra-safe battery cell design, NP technology and a high-ductility, energy-absorbing insulation film, leading the industry. 

The battery cells survived highly demanding tests, including high-speed sled impact tests at 60km/h, 90-degree bending tests and breakthrough sawing tests, during which the battery was claimed not to catch fire or explode.

In terms of accident safety, CATL’s Bedrock Chassis was said to have achieved instantaneous disconnection of high voltage circuit, within 0.01 seconds of impact and to complete the discharge of residual high-voltage energy in the vehicle within 0.2 seconds, setting a new industry record.

The chassis was claimed suitable for surmounting by a wide variety of bodywork, from small sedans to large SUVs.

The Bedrock Chassis is being offered to vehicle makers, who can install their power train, bodywork and interior, and there are already several Chinese takers. The time required for mass production of a vehicle is reduced from the traditional 36 months or longer to 12-18 months.

Battery swap initiative

CATL also unveiled two types of swappable batteries and rolled out a charging network, in conjunction with 100 partners in China.

According to Yang Jun, the CEO of CATL’s battery swapping arm, CAES, EV users won’t need to buy the battery pack with their new car, but can pay for their usage of a swap ’n’ go battery pack. 

CATL is working on a Choco-swap eco-system, where users will be able to swap batteries on their vehicles in about 100 seconds. 

The company launched two versions of its swappable batteries, dubbed #20 and #25.  Both #20 and #25 are available in less efficient, but very safe, lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) and higher-performance, but less safe, Ternary versions. Capacities ranging from 42kWh to 70kWh, with operating ranges between range between 400km and 600km.

Interestingly, CATL also announced that all its batteries developed in the future would be compatible with the swappable approach.