CATL - The Chinese Company That Control Worlds EV Market! – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.when someone asks you to say some names of the top global EV makers you'll come up with either Tesla Hyundai Ford or Volvo but you might not even know about one Chinese company on which almost every giant EV maker depends blindly and without that name most of the EV production would literally come to a pause that is CL the world's largest EV battery producer chinese electric uh vehicle battery maker a CL in high demand on its first day of trading on Hong Kong stock exchange a blogbuster a mega debut from a company that's not immune from tensions chinese EV battery giant CL saw its stock jump in Tuesday's debut on the Hong Kong market you know the average price of an EV in the US market is around $56,000 and around 40% of the total cost you're paying for the batteries they have and what's even more interesting is that Chinese company holds almost 38% of the global EV battery market share still it somehow stays out of the spotlight but recently CL has come under the blacklist of Pentagon despite being a lowprofile dominator in 2025 the US Department of Defense has added them to the list of Chinese military companies so now let's know a bit more about what's CL how they are dominating the industry and why the US government see a battery company as a national security concern [Music] well the company was started in 2011 by one founder named Zung Yukun a guy who came from a poor village has seen poverty during his childhood but now is the founder of world's most powerful EV battery empire zung was born in 1968 in a small village in Ningday Fujian China he earned a PhD in condensed matter physics and began his journey in battery technology in 1999 by founding Amperex Technology Limited atl focused on lithium ion batteries for gadgets like laptops and MP3 players the company grew fast and started supplying big names like Apple in 2005 ATL was acquired by Japanese tech company TDK but Zung stayed on as a manager by 2011 China had started promoting electric vehicles through strong government policies zung saw this as a big opportunity so he spun off ATL's EV battery division and created a new company CL or Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited he set up its headquarters in his hometown Ningday which helped him to lower costs and get support from local officials he even named the company Ningday Era to reflect its roots just after one year of founding and it didn't take long for the company to make a mark just one year later in 2012 it signed a major deal with BMW to supply batteries for electric vehicles then in 2015 the company made a smart move by acquiring Brump Recycling that gave CL the ability to recover valuable materials like lithium and cobalt from old batteries by 2018 the company stepped onto the global stage by opening its first overseas factory in Germany china's CL the world's largest battery supplier has set up shop in the German state of Turingen and when they partnered with Tesla and announced plans for a millionm battery the move turned heads across the industry in 2023 CL teamed up with Ford to license its LFP Tech for a battery factory in Michigan that same year it pledged to make its core operations carbon neutral by 2050 its Yeebin plant even gained recognition from the World Economic Forum as a model for zerocarbon manufacturing then came a defining year 2025 the Chinese company launched a bunch of next level batteries including the Free Voy dual power battery with a jaw-dropping 932 m range a sodium ion battery under the Naxtra series and a fast charging option that added 323 mi in just 5 minutes and all this acquisition partnership and innovation have built up a big very big empire for CL by the third quarter of 2024 the company had locked more than 37% of the global EV market share which is way ahead of names like South Korea's LG Energy Solution and China's own BYD well the main reason behind this surge is CL's huge production capacity smart innovations and the ability to keep costs low they're producing over 300 gawatt hours of batteries every year that's enough juice to power millions of electric vehicles one of their biggest advantages is the LFP batteries these avoid using pricey metals like cobalt and nickel which makes them up to 30% cheaper than many alternatives and that's a big win for both car makers and buyers trying to make EVs more affordable and now the company is supplying batteries to nearly every major EV brand you can name tesla Volkswagen BMW Stellantis NIO even BYD say for example Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y their budget friendly standard range versions run on CL's LFP batteries and they've also partnered with the American multinational company Ford to make a strong presence in the US in Europe they're building a huge 100 gawatt hours factory in Hungary to support local automakers back home in China they're teaming up with CIPC to roll out 10,000 battery swapping stations so many things that you can't even count cl has also been making some smart investments for example they put $345.6 $6 million into NIO's battery swapping network which lets drivers quickly swap out a dead battery for a fully charged one their impact is showing up in unexpected places too however this Chinese battery giant is just sitting on the peak of dominance but in January 2025 CL's momentum hit a political wall the US Department of Defense added the company to its section 126H list of Chinese military companies with the label officially kicking in by June 2026 this move backed by lawmakers like Senator Marco Rubio wasn't just about batteries it was about national security the US government is worried about CL's ties to China's military civil fusion strategy there are also allegations of links to the Shing Jang Production and Construction Corps which is an organization accused of forced labor and fears that CL's tech could be used for surveillance or even attacks on power grids for now the blacklist doesn't immediately stop CL from doing business with US companies like Tesla or Ford since commercial deals aren't directly banned but it does stir the pot any US company working with CL now risks being disqualified from defense contracts we're already seeing the ripple effects duke Energy for example had to remove CL batteries from Camp Lleune in 2024 to avoid problems ford's $3.5 billion Michigan plant built around CL's tech is suddenly under political scrutiny but things aren't that simple as the ban on Huawei or Tik Tok cl is way bigger than that and so many big names are involved with the company there aren't many alternatives that can match CL scale or pricing companies like LG or Panasonic just can't deliver the same volume at the same cost and that could mean pricier EVs and a slower rollout in the US when you look at the bigger picture this isn't just about CL it's part of the ongoing tension between the US and China even though CL managed to raise $4.6 billion through a stock listing in Hong Kong in May 2025 it still landed on a US blacklist that caused some backlash especially for big American banks like JP Morgan that were involved in the deal now there's talk that China might respond by putting its own restrictions on key battery materials if that happens it could seriously shake up the entire global electric vehicle supply chain because of all this pressure CL might start focusing more on Europe and Asia as for the US this blacklist could backfire it might end up cutting American car makers off from the world's most advanced and efficient battery supplier cl has even hinted at possibly taking legal action to fight the ban just like Xiaomi did successfully in 2021 at the end of the day this is all part of the US trying to separate itself from Chinese tech even if that decision brings big economic risks so we can definitely say that CL isn't just dominating the industry it also holds some serious power that could hurt US companies if the Pentagon decides to tighten things up they are going good keeping battery prices low and forming partnerships with almost every major EV brand out there but the question is can a battery company actually be threat for a country like the US we'll leave that for you to think about if you already have an answer drop it in the comments and if you don't want to see CL getting banned in the US anytime soon go ahead and hit that subscribe button thanks for watching [Music]