The skateboard chassis company of CATL, which has previously collaborated with Nezha Auto, has launched its first round of external financing.
It is expected that third - party chassis companies will make breakthroughs first in the fields of commercial vehicles (logistics vehicles, buses), Robotaxi in specific scenarios, and some mid - and low - end passenger vehicles that pursue extreme cost - effectiveness or rapid market entry. This is also one of the areas where CATL is concentrating its efforts.
CATL is accelerating the promotion of its skateboard chassis business. On July 28, market news spread that Times Intelligence, a subsidiary of CATL, launched its first round of external financing, with a financing scale of 2 billion yuan and a pre - investment valuation of about 9 billion yuan. It is reported that this round of financing was not fully open to the public but adopted a targeted invitation method, requiring a minimum investment of 100 million yuan. Currently, most participants are large state - owned capital.
The Economic Observer verified the matter with an insider at CATL. The insider confirmed that the financing of Times Intelligence is in progress, and the first round of financing is about to be completed. The insider said that this round of financing is led by well - known market - oriented investment institutions, and new energy industry capital and state - owned capital are jointly participating. However, regarding the specific valuation and financing details, the insider said it was not convenient to disclose them to the public for the time being.
Times Intelligence, fully named "CATL (Shanghai) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.", was established in 2021 with a registered capital of 250 million yuan. It focuses on providing products and technical services related to skateboard chassis with batteries as the core. Previously, Times Intelligence had long operated as a wholly - owned subsidiary of CATL. Although new investment entities were introduced in November 2023, they were all affiliated companies of CATL. This financing is the first time that Times Intelligence has opened its equity to capital outside the CATL system.
The skateboard chassis, also known as CIIC (CATL Integrated Intelligent Chassis), is an electric chassis with a battery/electric drive as the core, achieving a high degree of integration through CTC (Cell to Chassis) technology. It integrates components such as batteries, electric drive systems, suspensions, and brakes on the chassis in advance. Through the reserved electrical and vehicle body interfaces, it realizes the separation and decoupling of the upper and lower vehicle bodies, enabling the upper vehicle body to be replaced according to needs.
Recently, external capital has begun to enter Times Intelligence. On July 14, CATL transferred 9.99% of the equity of Times Intelligence to Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area Ningchuang Zhiyuan Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership), which is 99.9960% owned by Industrial Trust.
Behind CATL's Entry into the Skateboard Chassis Market
As a domestic giant in the power battery industry, why did CATL enter the skateboard chassis market, and why did it choose to open its equity to the outside world at this time?
Chen Xin (a pseudonym), who participated in the cooperation project between CATL's skateboard chassis and a vehicle manufacturer, told the Economic Observer that there are mainly three reasons for Times Intelligence to choose to raise funds at this time: First, Times Intelligence is responsible for its own profits and losses, and the group's financial support is limited. It needs to relieve the financial pressure through financing. Second, Times Intelligence originally planned to promote its products through Nezha Automobile, but due to Nezha's operational problems, the expected sales volume was not achieved, which intensified the financial pressure. Third, Times Intelligence hopes to introduce high - quality shareholders to jointly promote business development.
Chen Qingqing, an analyst at Victory Bird Strategic Consulting, told the Economic Observer that Times Intelligence's external financing at this time may be because the skateboard chassis has achieved a technological breakthrough, and the business has reached an inflection point. It needs capital injection to accelerate business development.
Data shows that in August 2024, when the Nezha S Shooting Brake was launched, a version using Times Intelligence's CIIC intelligent chassis was introduced. It was originally planned to be mass - produced in November but failed to do so due to the company's operational problems. In December 2024, CATL launched the "Panshi Chassis", a skateboard chassis product focusing on high safety. Avita became the first new energy brand to be equipped with this chassis.
Since 2024, Times Intelligence has successively reached business cooperation with enterprises such as BAIC, Jianghuai, and Changan Mazda. CATL said that the subsequent models of these partners are expected to be launched on the market in a concentrated manner from 2026 to 2027.
CATL's entry into the skateboard chassis market has its own strategic considerations. Chen Qingqing said that CATL's decision to develop skateboard chassis mainly has two aspects of considerations: On the one hand, the skateboard chassis can achieve bundled sales with its original battery business, enhancing the competitiveness of the battery business. On the other hand, the growth rate of CATL's battery business has slowed down, and it must lay out new growth points in advance.
Financial report data shows that CATL's gross profit margin has been continuously declining since reaching a high of 43.7% in 2016, dropping to only 24.4% in 2024. At the same time, CATL's market share has declined. In the first half of this year, CATL's domestic market share was 43.4%, showing a downward trend compared with the high of 52.1% in 2021. Meanwhile, various automobile manufacturers have begun to build their own battery factories in an attempt to get rid of their dependence on power battery suppliers, further putting pressure on CATL's market share.
In this situation, CATL is actively exploring new businesses. In 2021, CATL tested the waters in the battery - swapping business, launched the battery - swapping service brand EVOGO, and announced its entry into the battery - swapping market, planning to build the world's largest battery - swapping service network within two to three years. However, four years later, the progress of CATL's battery - swapping business has fallen short of expectations. This year, it abandoned the self - built battery - swapping station model and instead cooperated with NIO and Didi. The subsequent results still need to be tested by the market.
CATL's skateboard chassis business started almost at the same time as its battery - swapping business. At that time, the US new energy vehicle startup Rivian went public, and the concept of the "skateboard chassis" became very popular, attracting high attention from capital. Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out at the 2021 Annual Media Communication Meeting of the China EV 100 Forum that the skateboard chassis represents the technological development trend and will bring profound changes to automobile design and manufacturing.
"CATL is originally a battery manufacturer. Its chassis solution is an extension of the battery PACK solution and is a relatively mature module. This is CATL's advantage in this area," Chen Xin said.
Chen Qingqing also believes that CATL has certain advantages in developing skateboard chassis because it has mastered the most core battery technology in the skateboard chassis. However, she also reminded that the system integration of the skateboard chassis will be a major challenge for CATL. Although CATL is strong in battery technology, its chassis design still needs practical verification because problems can easily occur when multiple modules work together.
It is worth noting that CATL's skateboard chassis business not only focuses on the domestic market but also aims at the overseas market. According to an informed source, Times Intelligence's overseas projects are also in close progress, and new news may be disclosed soon.
Can the Skateboard Chassis Model Succeed?
The concept of the skateboard chassis was proposed by General Motors in 2002 but did not become popular later, mainly because the skateboard chassis has some inherent defects, such as large mass and high chassis height. In addition, due to the separate development of the upper and lower parts of the skateboard chassis, it is easy to be associated with the body - on - frame structure, which raises questions about the safety of the vehicle body.
So, in the new energy era, does the skateboard chassis have better development opportunities? Chen Qingqing believes that the skateboard chassis can significantly shorten the vehicle model R & D cycle and reduce costs, so it has the possibility of becoming popular again in the era of electric vehicles.
Li Peng, the founder and CEO of Youpao Technology, a skateboard chassis company, previously said that for models based on the super chassis, the time for tooling adjustment and process verification will be significantly shortened, and the R & D cycle can be shortened by 6 - 12 months. CATL said that the mass - production time of a whole vehicle can be shortened from the traditional 36 months or even longer to 12 - 18 months.
Regarding the development cost, Yang Hanbing, the general manager of Times Intelligence, said at a forum in 2024 that CATL's skateboard chassis products will only charge about one - third of the cost that the vehicle manufacturer would spend on self - development. The vehicle manufacturer can save 60% - 70% of the development cost, and CATL's BOM (Bill of Materials) cost can also reduce the vehicle manufacturer's BOM cost by about 5%.
Chen Xin believes that the skateboard chassis today is very different from that of 10 years ago in terms of price and other aspects for automobile manufacturers. The increase in the proportion of new energy vehicles has also created conditions for the popularization of the skateboard chassis. As a third - party skateboard chassis company, it must reach cooperation with automobile manufacturers as soon as possible to achieve development. Currently, CATL's strategic cooperation with multiple automobile manufacturers has locked in a batch of orders. With large order volumes, the cost can be better controlled, and technology iteration will be faster.
However, the implementation and application of the skateboard chassis still need to overcome some practical problems. For example, in terms of development standards, each automobile manufacturer hopes to customize its own battery pack and motor layout standards, making it difficult to achieve a unified interface. In terms of policies, current regulations require vehicle - level certification. If the chassis and the body are produced separately, the liability determination in case of an accident is unclear.
In addition, the international capital market's enthusiasm for the skateboard chassis is "cooling down". In January 2024, Arrival, a British star player in skateboard - based vehicle manufacturing, received a delisting notice from NASDAQ. In February 2024, the company applied for bankruptcy protection and finally sold its assets to another startup, Canoo. However, in January 2025, Canoo also announced that it was applying for bankruptcy protection and immediately stopped operations. In addition, Rivian's market value has now dropped to about $10 billion, and the stock price of the skateboard chassis technology company REE has also fallen below $1.
It is particularly worth noting that as a third - party supplier, Times Intelligence faces a major problem in the process of cooperating with vehicle manufacturers. That is, as one of the "three major components" of a vehicle, the chassis has always been regarded as the core technology of automobile manufacturers. Whether automobile manufacturers are really willing to hand over the chassis production to a third - party remains a question.
Chen Qingqing said that in order to achieve differentiation, automobile manufacturers are more likely to develop skateboard chassis on their own. The main users of third - party skateboard chassis companies are new entrants in the automotive industry and traditional automobile manufacturers that need to quickly introduce new products.
Currently, many automobile manufacturers are conducting self - research on skateboard chassis, including international manufacturers such as Tesla, Volkswagen, and Toyota, as well as domestic ones such as BYD, Leapmotor, GAC, and Chery. Although Volkswagen, Toyota, BYD, etc. have not clearly proposed the concept of the skateboard chassis, their modular platforms, such as Volkswagen's MEB, Toyota's e - TNGA, and BYD's e - Platform 3.0, all reflect similar technological characteristics.
In this situation, Chen Qingqing believes that third - party chassis companies are expected to make breakthroughs first in the fields of commercial vehicles (logistics vehicles, buses), Robotaxi in specific scenarios, and some mid - and low - end passenger vehicles that pursue extreme cost - effectiveness or rapid market entry. This is also one of the areas where CATL is concentrating its efforts. In July 2025, Times Intelligence and T3 Mobility signed a strategic cooperation agreement, announcing that they will jointly promote the innovative development of Robotaxi (autonomous taxis) based on CATL's Panshi Skateboard Chassis platform.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Economic Observer". Author: Zhou Ju. Republished with permission from 36Kr.