CATL (with Yutong) to launch new CV battery with extremely long lifespan

In collaboration with major Chinese bus and truck manufacturere Yutong, CATL is about to launch new commercial vehicle battery with “a lifespan of up to 15 years and 1.5 million kilometers”, as reported on Elektrek. That adds: “According to the company, the new long-lasting EV battery has zero degradation through the first 1,000 cycles”.

This new battery by CATL and Yutong will be adopted on Yutong electric commercial vehicles such as buses, light trucks and heavy trucks. Yutong is traditionally partnering with CATL when it comes to batteries for its EV vehicles. In 2022 the two companies extended their partnership with a ten-years agreement.

Yutong and CATL: long-term production collaboration

In an interview with our sister platform Sustainable Bus held in late 2023, Yutong’s CEO Europe Jack Li said: “CATL is in the process of establishing a plant in Hungary with the objective of commencing production by the end of 2024. As a result, we are planning to procure battery modules from Europe in the future. To achieve this, we must secure robust sales to support our investment in localizing production. Timing of this strategy will depend on sales”.

Yutong has recently launched its electric light truck range in Mexico, earlier this year. There are no news about the will of the group to approach the European market with the truck range. Last year, at the international launch event of the innovative YEA architecture for electric vehicles, Yutong’s top management told us in Zhengzhou that Europe is quite an interesting, even though challenging market and they were still evaluating the possibility to export electric trucks. Yutong buses have been sold in Europe for quite a lot of time.