A view of CATL headquarters in Ningde, East China's Fujian Province Photo: VCG

Ningde-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) is ready to produce a battery that could last 16 years or 2 million kilometers, marking a breakthrough for the Chinese electronic vehicle (EV) battery industry and also a potential boon for automakers. 

The newly launched battery adopts technologies involving automatic repair to prolong the battery's life-span and control the depletion rate of active materials in lithium, CATL told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that the new battery will only cost 10 percent more than current batteries. 

By comparison, current EV batteries last about eight years or 250,000 kilometers, according to media reports. 

Industry insiders are holding a wait-and-see attitude as they said the power pack may not have undergone enough practical trials. 

CATL has accumulated certain experience and technologies, Liu Yong, secretary-general of the Energy Storage Applications Branch of the China Industrial Association of Power Sources, told the Global Times on Wednesday, while adding that "material data is still needed to decide whether the goal can be achieved and lab data can only be considered as reference." 

Liu also said that the performance of auto batteries is different under different conditions; for example, battery endurance may be reduced in lower temperatures.

Another veteran industry insider who wished to remain anonymous agreed, noting that the company was founded in 2011 so there has not yet been enough time to prove the new battery can last for 16 years. 

Globally, CATL ranked top in the EV battery market in 2019 with a 27.9 percent global market share, according to South Korea's market tracker SNE Research. It was followed by Japan's Panasonic Corp with a 24.1 percent market share and South Korea's LG Chem with a 10.5 percent market share, as well as China's BYD at 9.5 percent. 

"Chinese EV battery makers have been ramping up their efforts. In terms of battery performance, their products are in the premier league," the anonymous insider said. 

CATL makes power packs for Tesla and Volkswagen, and supply of the new battery will not be exclusive to Tesla, media reports said on Wednesday. 

The company signed a deal with Tesla in February to provide batteries for Tesla Model 3 cars produced in Shanghai's gigafactory, which started delivering cars at the end of last year. 

CATL is strengthening its relationship with Tesla, with cobalt-free batteries on their agenda, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, told BloombergNEF in an interview. 

"We're getting along well and he's a fun guy," Zeng said of Tesla boss Elon Musk. "He's talking about cost all day long, and I'm making sure we have the solutions," the report said. 

On May 11, the deputy general manager of CATL said the company's cooperation with Tesla will go beyond China, hinting Tesla's Berlin factory may also use CATL's batteries. 

The Chinese company is also building a factory in Germany and aims to realize battery capacity of 14 GWh of electricity generated by 2022. 

The stock price of CATL closed up 1.77 percent on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Wednesday.