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BEIJING, December 8 (TMTPOST)— Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), the world’s top electric vehicle (EV) battery maker, is proactively expanding business from overseas major automakers, not just Tesla and other EV companies.

Source: Visual China

From 2024 through 2030, Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. will purchase 123 GWh of batteries for pure electric vehicles from CATL, the two companies announced on Thursday. Equipped with Hongda’s e:N Series, the EV batteries that Honda ordered will be produced in CATL"s production base in Yichun, a city in eastern China"s Jiangxi Province. The battery supply agreement will secure a long-term stable battery supply for Honda and enable both companies to maintain their leading position in e-mobility transition, marking another important milestone for their cooperation, according to the announcement.

The latest supply deal marks CATL and Honda’s strengthening their strategic partnership. The partners signed an agreement to form a comprehensive alliance on new energy vehicles (NEVs) in July, 2020. They said joint development on batteries of NEVs, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, as well as further research on battery recycling and reuse would be conducted under the agreement. Honda at that time planned to launch first model powered by the CATL battery in China in 2022, and its alliance with CATL to be further expanded worldwide in the future.

Honda aims to produce 750,000-800,000 electric vehicles in North America in 2030, and its output target in China is about the same, with another 400,000-500,000 units in Japan and other markets, Shinji Aoyama, Honda"s global head of electrification, said in April.

The statement Thursday said CATL and Honda will leverage their respective advantages and sharpen their competitive edge, thus contributing to global drive towards e-mobility and carbon neutrality ambitions.

CATL seemed to shift its focus from North America to Europe to increase output. The battery maker announced in August to invest 7.34 billion euros to build a 100 GWh battery plant in Debrecen of east Hungary, its second battery plant in Europe. A month later, Matthias Zentgraf, CATL’s regional president in Europe, said his company is considering building the third facility to produce electric vehicle-used batteries in Europe, and has not made clear decision or movements on it yet.