NINGDE, China (Reuters) - Robin Zeng, the billionaire founder of CATL, aims to reinvent the world’s largest battery maker as a green-energy provider and to slash the cost of developing electric vehicles, upending the economics of the industry that has powered its growth. Zeng told Reuters in an interview that he expects the business of developing and managing "zero carbon" electric grids could be "ten times" larger than supplying electric-vehicle batteries, a market CATL now leads with a 37% global share. CATL, he said, aims to build independent energy systems big enough to power a massive data center or even a city.
In a separate strategic move, CATL plans to offer an off-the-shelf electric-car platform with a long-range battery integrated into a chassis. Customers could then launch their own customized EVs by designing only the interior and exterior. The goal, Zeng said, is to sharply cut EV development costs - to millions of dollars from billions - and open the industry to new competitors.
Zeng’s initiatives aim to unlock new growth for his 25-year-old enterprise, which got its first big break selling lithium-ion batteries for Apple’s iPod before pivoting to EVs in 2011 with a BMW supply deal. CATL sold $40 billion worth of EV batteries last year, up from $33 billion a year earlier. Hitting Zeng’s goal for electric grids of tenfold revenue growth would put the battery maker on par with state oil giants Sinopec and PetroChina, China’s largest companies.
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