A Chinese car battery-maker, Catl says it’s able to manufacture a product capable of powering a car for 1.2 million miles (two million kilometres) across the course of a 16-year lifespan.
By contrast, most automakers only offer warranties starting from 60,000 to 150,000 miles over a 3 to 8 year period on their cars’ batteries.
Contemporary Amperex Technology has not revealed who it intends to provide.
But it had been previously reported that the battery was co-developed with Tesla.
The latest news was disclosed in an interview Catl’s chairman gave to the Bloomberg Press Agency.
“If someone places an order, we are ready to produce,” it quoted Zeng Yuqun as saying.
It was set, however, to cost a 10% premium over the batteries it already provides, he added further.
The company signed a two-year agreement to provide batteries for Tesla’s Model 3 cars in February. Its other clients include BMW, Daimler, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
Demand for electric vehicles is growing.
The European marketplace for EVs and plug-in hybrids grew by 72% within the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2019, representing 7% of all delivered new cars, as stated by research firm Canalys.
By contrast, the pandemic weighed on the broader market, which as an entire saw deliveries down by 26% for the quarter.
The firm said that Catl’s claim was “significant but difficult to verify”.
“It is likely to be used as a differentiator by some car-makers when there is a significant difference from one vehicle to another – dramatically affecting resale value,” said Canalys’s chief automotive analyst Chris Jones.
He added that this and other factors – including the wider availability of charging points and longer driving ranges – should help tempt more motorists to make the switch to an electric car.
