Leapmotor's externally supplied battery packs: Acting as the "middleman" for CATL's commercial vehicle business | Exclusive from 36Kr

Recently, 36Kr Auto learned that Leapmotor's self-developed battery packs have also begun to be supplied externally. Its battery cells are purchased from CATL and other battery manufacturers, while the battery packs are from Leapmotor. This business is undertaken by Lingxiao Energy, a subsidiary of Leapmotor dedicated to battery technology R & D.

Currently, this subsidiary has received orders from more than five new - energy commercial vehicle customers and is continuously exploring new customers. Xichong New Energy is one of the commercial vehicle enterprises in in - depth discussions with it.

For Leapmotor, the battery pack is the most core component of the vehicle. Receiving battery pack orders from multiple commercial vehicle enterprises means that Leapmotor's external supply business of components has entered a new phase. For CATL, introducing a "middleman" like Leapmotor may enable it to obtain more market share in the commercial vehicle market with a more cost - effective solution.

Difficult to Enter the Passenger Car Supply Chain, Leapmotor Enters the Commercial Vehicle Market

Full - scale self - development is one of Leapmotor's most important competitive strategies. Especially in the three - electric fields, which are the core of new - energy vehicles, Leapmotor started self - development several years ago and incubated subsidiaries such as Lingsheng Power, which mainly focuses on the R & D of electric drive systems, and the aforementioned Lingxiao Energy.

In July, Zhu Jiangming, the CEO of Leapmotor, said that the scope of self - development would be expanded from the three - electric systems, intelligent cockpits, and intelligent driving to all high - value - added components that it has the ability to develop independently.

The purpose of Leapmotor's self - developed components is not only to reduce costs. To some extent, it also wants to replicate BYD's successful path of selling both complete vehicles and supplying components externally.

Stellantis is one of Leapmotor's important customers. Last year, Leapmotor and Stellantis jointly established Leapmotor International. Leapmotor authorized its electronic architecture technology to Stellantis and supplied components such as headlights and electric drives to it to share R & D costs.

In March this year, Leapmotor reached a cooperation with Hongqi. The two parties plan to jointly develop a model for the overseas market, which is expected to be put into production under the Hongqi brand in the second half of next year.

Now, Leapmotor has started supplying self - developed battery packs to commercial vehicle enterprises and is recruiting business personnel to expand its customer base. To some extent, this can be regarded as a turning point in Leapmotor's external supply business of components.

It is often difficult for self - developed components of vehicle enterprises to be supplied to their peers in the passenger car field on a large scale.

On the one hand, the new - energy passenger car industry chain has become highly mature. On the other hand, using key components from peers may enable competitors to know one's future product plans in advance, putting oneself in a passive position, which is naturally what every passenger car brand does not want to see.

In contrast, the commercial vehicle market is not only easier to enter but also has promising growth potential.

According to the data statistics of the Passenger Car Association, in the first half of this year, the cumulative retail sales of the domestic passenger car market reached 10.901 million vehicles, among which the retail sales of new - energy vehicles were 5.468 million, a year - on - year increase of 33.3%.

That is to say, in the first half of this year, the new - energy penetration rate in the passenger car market remained above 50%. It can be predicted that the growth of this market will gradually slow down.

In contrast, in the new - energy commercial vehicle market, according to the data of the Passenger Car Association, in the first half of this year, the domestic commercial vehicle sales were 2.122 million, among which the sales of new - energy commercial vehicles were 402,000, a year - on - year increase of 66.5%.

Calculated, the current penetration rate of new - energy vehicles in the domestic commercial vehicle market is less than 20%. Therefore, in the future, the new - energy commercial vehicle market is likely to see a large increase.

The installed capacity of power batteries in the commercial vehicle market will also rise along with the sales volume.

The data of the Passenger Car Association can confirm this. In 2024, the cumulative installed capacity of commercial vehicle power batteries was 65.2 GWH, a year - on - year increase of 116.4%. In the first half of this year, the cumulative installed capacity of commercial vehicle power batteries reached 51.4 GWH, a year - on - year increase of 126.2%.

Compared with the audience of passenger cars, the target users of commercial vehicles are often more sensitive to costs.

Compared with CATL, as a vehicle manufacturer, Leapmotor has a more systematic and low - cost engineering ability. This also determines that the combination of CATL's battery cells and Leapmotor's battery packs is a more cost - effective solution than CATL's complete battery packs and is more likely to be favored by users.

To Maintain Market Share, CATL Seeks New Allies

As for CATL, the leading enterprise in the power battery industry, it launched two products of the "Tianxing" series for the commercial vehicle market last year, targeting the two pain points of energy replenishment and endurance respectively.

Among them, the Tianxing L - Super - Charging version is the industry's first 4C super - charging power battery for light commercial vehicles.

According to CATL's official statement, this battery has a capacity of 140 kWh, a system energy density of 155 Wh/kg, and can replenish 60% of its energy in 12 minutes.

For the Tianxing L - Long - Endurance version, CATL said that this battery has a capacity of 200 kWh, a system energy density of 200 Wh/kg, and can achieve a range of 500 km under the condition of a fully - loaded vehicle traveling at a high - speed of 80 km/h.

This year, Times Qiji, a subsidiary of CATL dedicated to battery - swapping business, released a standard battery pack, the 75# battery pack, for heavy - duty truck models. On the day of the press conference, CATL said that it had developed more than 30 chassis battery - swapping models with more than a dozen vehicle enterprises such as FAW Jiefang, Shaanxi Automobile, and Dongfeng.

Obviously, CATL is fully capable of selling complete battery packs to commercial vehicle customers, but it still chooses to use Leapmotor's self - developed battery packs.

This "alliance" in the electric commercial vehicle field is expected to deepen the cooperation between Leapmotor and CATL in the passenger car field.

For a long time, Leapmotor's power battery suppliers have been second - and third - tier power battery manufacturers such as CALB, Zhengli New Energy, and Guoxuan High - Tech.

But this year, the Enjoyment Edition and LiDAR Edition of Leapmotor's B01 with a range of 650 km have started to be equipped with CATL batteries.

For Leapmotor, which has long relied on cost - effectiveness to increase sales volume, it needs CATL's endorsement to enhance its brand image. For CATL, it also needs a partner like Leapmotor to consolidate its leading position in the power battery industry.

In the first half of this year, according to the statistics of the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, CATL's market share decreased by more than 3 percentage points year - on - year to 43.05%.

Currently, the popular Xiaomi YU7 uses Fudi Battery as its primary supplier, and the officially announced power battery supplier of the Ledao L90 is only CALB. In this context, CATL needs to deepen its relationship with other leading new - energy brands to avoid a further decline in its market share.

Leapmotor is a brand with a large increase in sales this year. According to Leapmotor's official data, in the first half of this year, Leapmotor delivered a total of 221,700 new vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 156%. In July, Leapmotor's delivery volume exceeded 50,000 for the first time, a year - on - year increase of more than 126%.

Calculated by the fact that the battery procurement amount accounts for 30% of the sales cost, in the first quarter of this year, Leapmotor's battery procurement amount exceeded 2.5 billion yuan.

In addition to Leapmotor, XPeng is also a brand with a rapid sales growth recently.

In 2022, Gu Hongdi, the president of XPeng Motors, announced that the company would diversify its power battery suppliers. Since then, CATL has gradually withdrawn from XPeng's supply chain. However, recently, 36Kr Auto learned that the first two models jointly developed by XPeng and Volkswagen are planned to be equipped with CATL batteries. Therefore, it is still unknown whether CATL will re - enter XPeng's supply system in the future.

After the launch conference of the Leapmotor C11 in July, Zhu Jiangming publicly expressed his concerns about Leapmotor's future development:

"We just won the 'war of resistance' (referring to achieving profitability). We only made a slight profit for the first time in the fourth quarter of last year. If Leapmotor cannot quickly increase its sales volume, improve its profitability and market share, it may be very dangerous."

In the future, Leapmotor's external supply business of battery packs may be an important business segment that coordinates with Leapmotor's complete vehicle business and enhances its profitability.

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