However, the biggest battery maker in the world, Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited, better known as CATL, believes that going down the cylindrical cell route is a dead end. CATL’s founder and head honcho, Robin Zeng, told Tesla CEO Elon Musk this to his face. The reaction was silence.

The production curve for batteries in China continues to have only one direction: upwards! In October, electric car batteries with an energy content of 59.2 GWh were produced there. More than two thirds of this came from the two market leaders CATL and BYD.

Robin Zeng, the billionaire founder of CATL , aims to reinvent the world’s largest battery maker as a green-energy provider and to slash the cost of developing electric vehicles, upending the economics of the industry that has powered its growth.

Battery giant’s chairman said he’d be open to investing in a US facility, and Trump has previously suggested he’d welcome China-backed projects

CATL has restricted its presence in the U.S. market to battery-production licensing deals. Ford is opening a Michigan plant to build low-cost lithium-phosphate batteries under a licensing deal with CATL for its Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning pickup.

China’s EV and battery firms ... The trade barriers have blocked some of the world’s leading battery and EV companies, including CATL and its largest battery competitor, BYD, which might otherwise help accelerate the US EV transition.

Robin Zeng, the billionaire founder of CATL, aims to reinvent the world’s largest battery maker as a green-energy provider and to slash the cost of developing electric vehicles, upending the economics of the industry that has powered its growth.