Inside The World's Biggest (And Most Secret) Battery Factory!

[@erinwiebe7026]

Fantastic peek into CATL, thank you & the Fully Charged Show team for persevering and making this happen. The technology, automation & scale of this factory is astounding!

[@LXTstudio]

Better than a BBC documentary on the topic

[@johnsmith-cw3wo]

BBC would be more like: ''China is collapsing any day now... because they are communist or something''

[@beneric4851]

There are so many China collapsed. Which China is the next?​@@johnsmith-cw3wo

[@mrmatias2618]

Take it easy fam.

[@johnmcnulty6171]

That was cool, very well done Elliot plus all the team, and a big thank you to CATL for allowing it. I was also quite stunned to see a super dense 500 Wh/kg battery too. I've only been expecting that kind of power density from Silicon Anode batteries. Would love to learn more about that please 🙏🏻

[@stefanweilhartner4415]

as far as i know they didn't release details about their 511Wh/kg battery. and longevity might still be a problem, or maybe a very expensive manufacturing process.

[@stickynorth]

This was like the battery version of visiting the Wonka Factory, Charlie! Very cool... Especially with those two other battery types on display... A cheap every-person's car battery in the sodium-ion form and aviation battery that will unlock cheaper and cleaner regional aviation! Well done, CATL! You truly are the world changing company we'd all hope you'd be!

[@kushalraj93]

This is the exact analogy that came to my mind!

[@thyristo]

CATL is halving the price of its LFP batteries by mid 2024. And: do you think the development ends here? Of course the energy density of Sodium-Ion batteries will ramp up while the cost goes down even more. A comparable BEV model to an ICE will only cost about 1/4th. But eventually Robotaxis will shrink the overall amount of cars on the streets. This will be the real disruption. I personally am too lazy to have a car and can't wait to be driven around.

[@theolich4384]

Been there. The estate the CATL HQ (plus an enormous SAIC compound 2km away that's been pumping out MG4s straight to the port down the road, and an increasing number of battery and auto parts suppliers) sits on didn't exist before 2008. All were built upon reclaimed land. Locals only began land reclamation for cultivation in the early 1990s, when the city of Ningde was a backwater, anonymous fishing town, with no other but Xi Jingping serving as the local party chief (who is usually the one in charge, instead of the mayor). Today it's among the fastest growing municipalities in China, albeit still small by Chinese standard. Takeaway here is manufacturing takes decades of dedicated work. It's not as easy as pass a law and pushing a button.

[@HermanWillems]

Hu Jintao was better than Xi Jinping though you agree right ?

[@postahundredcommentsbutonl4408]

@@HermanWillems As long as China's leaders continue to adhere to Confucian collectivism and a commodity economy, China's urbanization and industrialization movement will continue. Whether it is Deng Xiaoping or today's Xi Jinping, although they both claim to be Leninists, they are suppressing Leninists and Western liberals in private. Although this is a strange approach, it ensures that there will be no unrest in China.

[@HermanWillems]

@@postahundredcommentsbutonl4408 nah there is a limit to that. As innovation u really need free spirit and free thinking not limited by government.

[@postahundredcommentsbutonl4408]

@@HermanWillems Western liberalism = innovation? Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, who graduated first in the Cambridge Law Department, would faint from laughter at your words. After World War II, only Confucian areas completed urbanization and industrialization. Why? (Even Western countries themselves completed urbanization and industrialization through colonial plunder) South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan have tried their best to cater to Western liberalism since the 1990s, but as a result, they have stagnated in development? Why does Singapore, which has always adhered to Confucian collectivism, continue to develop rapidly? Singapore is the country most opposed to Western liberalism in the world. Every law enacted by Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is in conflict with Western liberalism. Singapore even bans firecrackers and chewing gum. In Singapore, if you stick chewing gum to public facilities, you will be caned. In Singapore, selling 15g of drugs is punishable by death. Compare Western countries and Singapore. Is there such a possibility. The decline of the West today is caused by Western liberalism itself.

[@rodrigomiranda2432]

​@@HermanWillems CATL, Huawei, BYD, Comac, SMIC, solar energy, quantum computing, industrial automation, high speed rail, superconductors... China is leading everywhere you look

[@OCDaddyZsolt]

Actually, in Hungary, they just started to build the factory, it is not operational yet. It is in my hometown, Debrecen. As a side note, BMW is also about to complete a car factory here in Debrecen and they will produce electric cars only here.

[@remix-yy1hs]

See without catl, BMW would never build in hungry but now they wanna be closer to the source. Great job hungry great job by orban and foreign minister petr

[@marktrinidad7650]

Wow. How the heck did he get clearance to get into CATL.

[@sodiumhexacyanoferrate1452]

Chinese companies probably want more exposure in western media so he may have been paid by the government.

[@t.g.2777]

It's free propaganda for them 😂

[@sodiumhexacyanoferrate1452]

@@t.g.2777hmmmmmm i cant see my comment anymore 😆

[@t.g.2777]

​@@sodiumhexacyanoferrate1452did you comment same thing I'm guessing?

[@oBCHANo]

The CCP propaganda arm decided it would be good PR and gave it the greenlight.

[@mikemellor759]

Elliott, that was amazing. It makes the videos Tesla release on the 4680 production look basic. Well done for persevering to gain access. 👏👏

[@Sekir80]

Correction for 3:08 14 microns sound about correct by comparing to human hair. 0.14 micron is a hundred times smaller.

[@mumblic]

He probably meant 0.14 mm = 140 microns

[@Sekir80]

@@mumblic 14 microns is pretty much on point as half the width of human hair. Mine was 40 microns when I was young; now as age decreases it, it's probably thinner. Oh, you know what? I'll measure it right now! Interesting: only 4 microns seems too low, but that's the number now. According to Wolfram alpha the average is between 18 and 80 microns.

[@yzhang9265]

CATL, the King of EV Battery. Finally see the factory. Thanks Fully Charged Team =)

[@briancollier5145]

Wow! Great look inside a CATL plant. Since there are a number of these planned for around the world, it is good to see what they look like!

[@P_As_C_Al]

2:38 Great Video and congrats on getting access to such a secretive industry! Just a small correction: it’s not magnesium that goes into the battery but manganese. Small but important difference! 😁

[@ahaveland]

I noticed that too, but these are LiFePo₄ cells - there's no manganese in these either, as far as I know.

[@logicalChimp]

@@ahaveland From the sounds of it, the factory can change which type of cell they're making each day, and CATL still make NMC cells, I think

[@NicolasHennell-Foley]

Love the editing. Congrats to whoever did this! Give them a raise! The beginning especially was really nice :) The whole production in fact is great!

[@zodiacfml]

CATL is not only big but also high quality. CATL hard to find their batteries in many stores. if they are available, the CATL batteries are more expensive than any other brand.

[@timw1971]

Interesting video. My thanks to Fully Charged and CATL

[@TassieEV]

Wow that is amazing Elliot! Can't imagine the paperwork and red tape you had to go through to get in to film inside CATL but am so glad they did allow you amazing place and guessing their other factories are very similar to their main one in China.

[@Rufus2005f1]

Fascinating video. Hats off to CATL giving access

[@Darkmatter321]

37% market share. 270 Doctors working in RnD. 500 WH/KG. Just mind buggling numbers. I'm truly excited about the future that is lead by China.

[@Yanquetino]

Fascinating episode! It always bedazzles me to peek inside such factories. So much automation, such incredible machines! Now, I think my Powerwalls have 2170 cells inside them, manufactured by CATL? I figured they were built at the Gigafactory by Panasonic. Silly me?

[@4literv6]

The new powerwall3 is using catl prismatic lfp cells, all others are Panasonic 2170s I thought?

[@yangtianyi9563]

Ningde is where President Xi Jinping previous served as a city chief, CATL is one of his brain children of developing local manufacturing industry. Though western MSM is constantly portraying him a dictator, the truth is every China's top leader starts to lead a village, then a town, then a city than a province finally the nation. This process takes a man 30-40 years to upscaling his knowledge, managing capacity, political skills and loyalty of serving his people.

[@onetwothreefour-s1n]

Yep.

[@ethansu7385]

God, this is crazy, the West should learn, they are from birth by the family spent a lot of money in noble schools, After graduation with bad grades to pay off the media, and then the media tricked voters into electing him president

[@TheOfficialBatteryMan]

Very nice to see the level of automation and a stranger parts vibe

[@whitneylake2107]

Was the little gold box a solid state battery ? The prospect of a sodium based battery is exciting. Thank you for the tour.

[@Mobile_Dom]

no it's their ultra high density (and higher cost) dense batteries they're looking at using for aircraft, still NMC as far as we're aware

[@gaobili]

semi-solid, electrolyte inside is a jelly-like gel

[@HermanWillems]

nah just high energy dense NCM. (The battery that NOBODY cares about though, i mean we want to get away from NCM they are worse for the enviornment.) The Natrium-Ion batteries and the LFP batteries is where the game is at. Nobody cares about the energy density at high price. Everybody cares about the price per kWh.

[@stefanweilhartner4415]

@@HermanWillems high price is not a show stopper for aviation. like pipistrel or lillium etc. but they don't use CATL.

[@EugeneLambert]

Fascinating episode, and brilliant work by Elliot to line this up. CATL will take some catching.

[@bewilderbeestie]

In at least some of those shots, I get the impression there's a couple of nervous handlers just off-camera who have said things like, "put your feet there --- yes, right there --- don't move --- and don't _touch anything!"_

[@jeremyt7448]

Wow, the storage room is huge! Interesting vid and well edited.

[@christurner7601]

I'd dispute the fact that it is the world's 'most secret' battery factory given that you have filmed it and distributed on KZbin. I know some one who is making batteries in their spare bedroom, he hasn't told anyone else but me.

[@lievenvv]

So not the most secret either ☝️

[@patreekotime4578]

Well, unless you consider hallways and the sides of machine enclosures 'industrial secrets' I think it's safe to say they are pretty secretive. Especially when smaller companies looking for investors will do tours and explain all of the steps and show their proprietary machinery on camera doing all kinds of proprietary things.

[@onetwothreefour-s1n]

😂😆

[@STONEAJE]

Well since there's a factory in the US that produces 10x the gigawatt output and it's not on here yet....

[@bigbadthesailor5173]

just very glad this is Elliot and not Greg Wallace inside the factory!

[@linkedinroger]

Wow! Wow! And Wow again!..and one more Wow - because you're worth it Elliot! In both gaining access to such a facility, and in the way you filmed it (especially your genuine excitement on entering the baking room) Thank You! 👏

[@lesnypatrol7292]

Thanks CATL for innovation

[@johnsmith-cw3wo]

the communists STOLE the technology from THE WEST !

[@OmgThatsIncredible]

First of all.. It is not Magnesium what the batteries use. It is Manganese. ;)

[@najibyarzerachic]

M3P has manganesium as well I believe

We just got a bettery factory in my city, allways thought it was so big. But now i see that Catl cafeteriais probably bigger then our entire battery factory lol

[@thermalstoragesystemfromtr9513]

LOL, we do have some big factories here in China which is probably bigger than a city.

[@dalroth10]

I don't know how you managed to persuade CATL to allow you in to see their manufacturing capabilities but I found this fascinating - well done you! CATL are clearly a world superpower when it comes to batteries and their products are astonishing. The scale of their operation is staggering and they are clearly innovating at a speed few, if any other countries in the world, can compete with.

[@williamwatitwa3534]

Now tomorrow someone will ban them for national security threat, and other stories

[@williamwatitwa3534]

Now tomorrow someone will ban them for national security threat, and other stories

[@williamwatitwa3534]

Now tomorrow someone will ban them for national security threat, and other stories

[@williamwatitwa3534]

Now tomorrow someone will ban them for national security threat, and other stories

[@williamwatitwa3534]

Now tomorrow someone will ban them for national security threat, and other stories

[@LXTstudio]

Also kudos to the team for making sure Elliot was pointing to the right video at the end.

[@barneyomulligan9739]

Seems like quite a scoop, thank you Elliot great video. Did they perhaps give an idea of where their power comes from to run the operation? They must be looking for economies and efficiencies.

[@alistairl]

I do like a "how it's made!"- fun to see the full clean suit of the visitor's badge. I just get a badge with a red outline - Elliot is in yellow 😊

[@johnhornblow4347]

Awesome video, best since his BYD factory tour

[@AmerBoyo]

Very impressive!

[@HorizonimagingCoUkPhotography]

Wow talk about a peek into the future! 😮 Amazing work getting permission to film here FCS! 🤩🙏

[@skepticalmechanic]

I believe CATL batteries are in my 2023 model 3 SR

[@HermanWillems]

SR does not get made anymore since many years. You mean RWD probably? But yes the rear wheel drives. (not all there are also Long Range with RWD but they are rare) But i also have a Tesla Model 3 RWD from 2022 and they have these batteries. (LFP ones)

[@skepticalmechanic]

@@HermanWillems SR stands for Standard Range

[@durwoodmaccool890]

Awesome video. I like how it's all robots and machines and then at the end for shipping it's a bored looking guy loading em into the packing.

[@SWR112]

Toyota take note, they don’t live in the never never. 😁 Battery recycling is going to be a huge industry in twenty years. More power no pun intended to CTL in the R&D of new breakthroughs. Huge credit I remember this guy sitting in the back of a EV in his first clip and you can see the confidence and presentation skills that he has gained, a credit to the channel.

[@jamesphillips2285]

Toyota got burned by Texaco buying up the EV-1 NiMH battery patents. Chevron then bought Texaco and sued Panasonic, the supplier of batteries for the RAV4 EV. It had a 20kW generating trailer in development. The Electric RAV4 with the generating trailer was more fuel efficient than the gasoline RAV4.

[@alfrredd]

Toyota and Japan is 15 years behind China when it comes to electric vehicle production, battery development, etc.

[@patreekotime4578]

​@@jamesphillips2285That was over 20 years ago... and a decade before the founding of CATL. Think about that a minute. A company that didn't even exist when the Tesla Model S came out is now the world's biggest battery manufacturer. Toyota has had plenty of time.

[@jamesphillips2285]

@@patreekotime4578 IMO using hundreds of commodity 18650 cells was a patent work-around on Tesla's part. The did crazy things like a add a rigid case and cooling lines. They used the coolant to prevent hotspots and keep the battery in a safer operating range for both hot and cold outside temperatures. The Nissan Leaf, released about 3 years after the Roadster, was much simpler in comparison. It used larger "pouch" cells in a passively cooled case. The winter package included 300W of heating to maintain the pack at ~-28C.

[@patreekotime4578]

@@jamesphillips2285 Tesla was the first company to put laptop style lithium ion battery cells into a car. It was their whole entire identity. It wasn't any kind of patent workaround... it was literally all that was available in 2002. The LEAF battery likely wasnt even developed until after the Model S was already really far along in development. And then look what happened to it... those 'simple' batteries failed alot exactly because they lack active cooling. Not sure how you think that is more advanced??

[@pauladams1829]

Incredible I the UK government supported engineering like that. ❤

[@54mgtf22]

Great job Elliot.

[@silversurfer8237]

Great video. Seeing all the advancements in battery technology, it will be possible to rely full time on solar and wind power. EVs will be cheap enough and reliable enough to replace ICE cars. Bravo!

[@Roamor1]

amazing view, thank you

[@axelhallen5802]

Ekonomis of *scale* at work right there

[@Febattbattery]

Interesting video. It's a very delicate process.

[@andyballard1883]

Excellent video, but I would really like to see how they are producing solid state technology, presumably that walk the gold aeroplane one in the segment

[@PaulNaybour]

I agree the gel batteries we have today are quite old technology dating from the 1990s; versions such as solid-state could be a huge step forward.

[@joe2mercs]

Seemed odd that with all automation that they had an individual at the end of the video packing cells one at a time into an expanded plastic frame.

[@logicalChimp]

Probably because Elliot said that all cells are inspected manually - and it's likely easier to then pass the cell to someone else to pack, rather than put it in the right place (and with the right orientation etc) every time for a machine to pick up and pack.

[@VegBazzoBoys]

Great content Elliot. Very interesting 😊

[@caseydbani1419]

Congrats to this superb documentation! You are the man!

[@vhol93]

Awesome!

[@gonzo_the_great1675]

Thought he said that they had a 'bacon room'. I got all exited.

[@onetwothreefour-s1n]

😂😆

[@Anon-u3i]

Brilliant Video

[@kylequest]

I'll take 5,000 of those... and those.... and oh those too please! 😃👍

[@kjlovescoffee]

7:05 The bacon room, you say? You have my attention!

[@havencat9337]

dannng, im amazed!

[@nzoomed]

Im really interested to know how CATL stacks up against LG, Panasonic and samsung. Very interesting video, thats for sure. But one question I have, is how do they assemble these cells without the lithium metal reacting in the air?

[@farmers740]

磷酸铁锂电池里没有锂单质，是化合物😅

[@Arek_R.]

500Wh/kg? That's insane. One of the best you can buy these days is NCR17650GA at around 250Wh/kg. But then you can actually buy it, stuff from the video is sci-fi at the moment.

[@viranjith]

Amazing!

[@ronaldcampbell17]

I love your videos.

[@velenceigabor1418]

Going green should also include the part where the batteries will be recycled. Being 'baked' feels like it will be close to impossible or very expensive.

[@fullychargedshow]

It's worth googling 'Redwood Materials' for genuine information about battery recycling. They are already recycling thousands of tons of old laptop, phone and powertool batteries and selling the resulting material to tesla to make new batteries. Baking the materials isn't an issue as I undersatnd it.

[@paulsmakingmovies1451]

Very interesting stuff

[@NoahZimmerman]

Too bad they didn't really let them see more of the details, but great video as always!

[@charlesmarsh9608]

How big has Fully Charged become???

[@MooseOnEarth]

Whenever he says: "magnesium", just imagine: "manganese" (which is a totally different element). Elliot got that wrong.

[@inquaanate2393]

You’ve got very good funding. Use it for good.

[@Wunderpus-photogenicus]

The next day headline news on those major western news: “China stole our battery technology!!”

[@inebium]

Looks very impressive, is there anyone as advanced as them in Europe or is everyone very far behind?

[@timmurphy5541]

I don't think "advanced" is perhaps the right term. There are people in Europe with advanced designs but quite often they won't be able to commercialise a design as quickly because CATL is a huge company. I think that any design which can use their existing machines is going to be sold in volume by CATL quite quickly. If it requres different machinery then they'll have less advantage.

[@artboymoy]

@@timmurphy5541 Much like advances in solar panel technology. Some of the newer innovations to be proposed are like adding a layer of peroskite cells on top of existing panels or prism type layers to focus more light.

[@HermanWillems]

There are many battery makes in Europe. But not as much as in Asia. For example Leclanche, NorthVolt etc. They both make their own cells.

[@logitech4873]

0.14 microns is 360x thinner than the width of a human hair, not 2x.

[@caseydbani1419]

Must be inch

[@logitech4873]

@@caseydbani1419 He said microns. Not inches.

[@ImBooX2]

Nice video. Only thing, battery swap in just one minute? The whole process is longer. Where I am in the US they will run into issues...it will be about -17 c in a couple days here. Run a snowy, ice covered, and road salt encrusted car into a swap center and I highly doubt the battery will be swapped in a minute. Then what will all that corrosive salt do to that swap center's equipment over time? I'd like to see a report on a change center working in such conditions or poor conditons. Everything I see done about them is in good conditions.

[@michaelbedard7859]

Amazing gift🎉

[@ericdanielski4802]

Nice video.

[@mrpicky1868]

0:9 magnesium? way to start Bob

[@taunteratwill1787]

Most secret factory . . . .open their doors for every visitor and all KZbinrs. 😂

[@stuartbrown7873]

I would like to see where the power comes from for all this. That is an important factor in how 'green' a battery or a car is. They do seem to have solar panels, but there must be other power sources. I don't mean to be critical. China is transitioning from fossil fuel to renewables just like everywhere else. But in the here and now, which battery supplier I prefer in my car depends substantially on how green their production is and what their plans are to improve sustainability.

[@johnstraw6138]

How come fully charged is still using a twitter logo?

[@tony5oos]

How to make a Chinese firefighter , complete with containments as deposited by the nutter in the slurry room which is normally done in a partial vacuum.

[@dmain6735]

Great upload. Being coy on the battery density of that Sodium pack. Impressive production facility.

[@kevinm3751]

The next process in the supply chain should be to show us how these batteries are being disposed and recycled! Of course no one wants to know that, they just want all the good news!

[@azhandyman-h8r]

amazing

[@jasongooden917]

Homer Simpson: MMMM, Bacon Room!

[@willempieffers6928]

Impresive

[@Reiner_Markenfreund]

Danke für das lehrreiche Video. Aber in der Nähe von Halbzeugen die in einer elektrochemischen Einrichtung als aktiv beteiligte Protukte eingesetzt werden, ist lautes sprechen und starke Gestig nicht sehr gut auf den Reinheitswert der Atmosphäre wirkend. Ein Nahmikrophon und ein Arbeitsschutzkophörer dre das eigen Sprachsignal in der richtigen Ausseuerungsstärke widergibt und die Umgebungsgeräusche aus dem Umfeldbereich reduzieren kann, wäre hier die jouranlistich ideale technische Grundausstattung. SJVD/M******* Michael Frithjof Müller

[@papa-dt1cv]

Great technology. Hope they can also spend effort to find a way to detect fire risk and trigger fast emergency dispatch of removable battery evergo before any risk of damage to the car and human.😊

[@christianfieldhouse902]

"0.14 micron thick, half the width of a human hair" - I think you meant 0.14mm?

[@JoelBergmark]

18k people at RnD, impressive but still far away from us, we have more than 115k people at RnD alone then about 90k people more 😅

[@najibyarzerachic]

Us?

[@williamwatitwa3534]

Clearly they arent as effective then

[@CristiCroicu]

The secret part where you were not allowed to record, most likely was full of children working

[@thedarksideofevan4690]

Should have looked more at the battery testing session, I think that's something a lot of people would be concerned about.

[@spaceman7915]

The EV industry (manufactures) needs to move towards battery swapping over fast charging. The most negative comment i hear is they take too long to charge, which to EV owners who charge at home, its 60 seconds to plug in and unplug in the morning. For other whom don't have at home charging, they have to waste up to and an hour charging. With battery swapping in a few minutes this will remove that whole "too long" argument and make EV more attractive.

[@tomo1168]

The factory in Hungary is not yet ready.

[@chrissscottt]

Cool.

[@TedToal_TedToal]

So what does CATL stand for? What is the significance of "Z" in the factory name? What does it look like where the raw minerals and metals are entering this factory?

[@danielmadar9938]

Super important.

[@zhangzhenyu1127]

期待来更多的中国探厂视频❤

[@pammieAu]

where to buy these?

[@Shirley-v3g]

I’m mainly interested in a nuclear battery !

[@SandeepBoodigoppa]

Chakra design light😮😮😮

[@kovaxzolika]

this will be in Hungary with the BYD factory

[@MrBezyBez]

I too, like to get baked before moving on to the next stage.