Xiaomi’s electric vehicle unit picked CALB, CATL as tier-1, tier-2 suppliers of power batteries – report 

 

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Xiaomi’s electric vehicle (EV) division has chosen CALB and CATL as the tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers of power batteries, respectively, reported Chinese news outlet Jiemian, citing insiders at Xiaomi.

Previously, Xiaomi had made CATL the tier-1 battery supplier for its EV unit as CALB faced a lawsuit from CATL and Xiaomi’s cost for sourcing a battery pack from CATL started at 80,000 yuan ($11,000), accounting for about 50% of the vehicle’s cost, the report said.

As the patent dispute between CALB and CATL came to an end, Xiaomi adjusted its supplier selection to reduce costs.

On August 3, CALB announced that Chinese intellectual property authorities invalidated two of CATL’s patents,which means that CALB’s batteries in dispute are unblocked and can be offered normally to the market, the report said.