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CATL announced on Watch Black Panther OnlineTuesday it is establishing a giant new battery plant on an area of 260,000 square meters (2.8 million square feet) on the outskirts of Beijing. The facility will be the company’s first in northern China and is set for operation in 2026. The world’s largest battery supplier by shipment did not reveal the capacity of the factory to be developed in China’s capital city, but it is located adjacent to Xiaomi’s electric vehicle plant in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (E-town). The news comes after CATL last month set up a joint venture with Xiaomi and state-owned automaker BAIC for battery supply in the city, with CATL owning 51% of the new venture with a registered capital of RMB 1 billion ($140 million).

CATL also said it will deepen its partnership with BAIC to develop the so-called “skateboard chassis” for future battery EVs, while developing new models powered by its swappable batteries and co-establishing public facilities for battery swaps, after the two companies joined hands in 2022. CATL’s Integrated Intelligent Chassis (CIIC) is said to be a one-stop approach, intergrating battery cells, electric motors and other key parts under one structure, which means reduced weight for the car with no need for a separate battery pack. Chief scientist Wu Kai last November expected the company to begin producing the CIIC in the third quarter of 2024. CATL-backed EV startup Hozon is working on the first use of the chassis and Avatr, the premium EV brand from Chinese automaker Chang’an, is also collaborating with CATL on a similar effort. [CATL announcement, in Chinese]