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Chinese EV Battery Makers Push New Cobalt-Free Power Packs

by Eric Olander
SVOLT's new cobalt-free battery on display at the 2021 Chengdu Motor Show in Szechuan, China.

Two seemingly contradictory trends are underway in China’s electric vehicle battery market. On the one hand, there’s a greater push to import ever-larger quantities of cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the same time, there are also rapid moves to develop new cobalt-free power packs.

The latest evidence of the latter trend came this week at the Chengdu Motor Show, where one of China’s leading battery manufacturers, SVOLT Energy Technology, introduced its new NMx battery pack that uses 75% nickel and 25% manganese but none of the more expensive blue metal. The company announced that the new battery will power Great Wall Motor’s upcoming ORA Cherry Cat SUV.

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