CALB Enhances Drive Battery Production Capacity in Anticipation of Growing Demand

China Aviation Lithium Battery Technology (CALB) is a drive battery supplier, engaging in the development, manufacturing and sales of lithium-ion batteries, battery management systems, energy-storage batteries and lithium-ion battery materials. CALB’s sales revenue increased 2.1-fold year-on-year in 2018 to about 470 million yuan, but its net profit recorded a deficit of about 450 million yuan due to falling battery prices and rising raw material prices. In the first nine months of 2019, CALB turned to profitability with net sales of approximately 1.15 billion yuan and net profit of 11.31 million yuan. Revenue increased due to reorganization of Sichuan Chengfei Integration Technology’s lithium business. In anticipation of growing demand for drive batteries, CALB plans to increase its production capacity and aims to improve profits by further expanding its delivery scale.

According to an announcement by CALB’s chairman Liu Jingyu in April 2019, the combined annual production capacity of the company’s three production bases in Luoyang, Changzhou and Xiamen is intended to be increased up to 100GWh by 2025. In September 2019, China Aviation Lithium Battery Technology (Xiamen) began construction of a lithium-ion battery production plant with an annual production capacity of 20GWh. The first phase of construction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020.

In order to improve its product power and expand its supply scale, CALB also attaches great importance to alliances with other companies. In March 2019, CALB signed a partnership agreement with GAC New Energy Automobile. The two companies will focus on product planning and product life cycle management in the passenger vehicle field. In the same month, CALB’s wholly-owned subsidiary China Aviation Lithium Battery Technology Research Institute set up a joint venture with German auto parts supplier Continental to jointly develop, manufacture and sell 48V systems.

Regarding product supply trends, the amount of batteries delivered by CALB was 1.49GWh in 2019, 2.1 times higher than the previous year due to increased deliveries to Changan Automobile and GAC Motor. CALB’s ranking among China's drive battery production companies by amount of delivery increased from 9th in 2018 to 6th in 2019. The company plans to increase supply mainly to Chinese automakers through its subsidiaries.

With the aim of improving its technological capabilities, CALB is accelerating the development of new products. The company is promoting the technological development and commercialization of a lithium-ion battery with an energy density of 300 Wh/kg.