Contemporary Amperex Intelligence Technology (CATL), one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers based in China, has successfully completed testing an innovative electric car platform. The first car based on the new tech is expected in Q3 2024, Car News China reports.
Dubbed the CIIC (which stands for ‘CATL Integrated Intelligent Chassis’), the new platform is styled as a skateboard with integrated motors, battery pack, electronics, suspension, steering and braking systems. The company has already conducted both summer and winter road tests with it using an unspecified Class B sedan as a test mule.
In the end, the CIIC proved capable of covering 1,000 (621 miles) on a single charge while expending 10.5 kilowatt-hours per 100 km on average. The range dropped by 30 percent in winter testing conditions (-7ºC / 19ºF).
Other than that, the only specification revealed so far is charging efficiency: five minutes spent plugged into a sufficiently powerful charger is enough to get back roughly 300 km (186 miles) of range.
The news that CATL was busy developing a new EV architecture first leaked in January this year. Back then, the company said its first partner to get it will be Hozon Auto. Hozon Auto makes electric cars under the Neta sub-brand in China (see the gallery and the video). In theory, adopting this state-of-the-art platform will let automakers cut vehicle production costs and times.
Apparently, CATL itself is not interested in becoming a car manufacturer.