A Hefei manufacturing joint venture established by Cathay Biotech, CATL's Puquan Capital and Coleitec Composites has officially entered production ramp-up for its facility designed to produce 2.5 million sets of bio-based glass fiber composite battery housings annually. The development marks the industrial-scale rollout of bio-based PA56 thermoplastic composites for new-energy power battery housings. CATL has secured a framework order for 500,000 sets per year, covering two major application areas: 800V high-voltage power batteries and large-scale energy storage systems.

The project is operated by Anhui Kaixian Times Composite Materials Co., Ltd., a joint venture founded by the three parties in February 2025. With a total investment of RMB 500 million, the site plans to build 18 dedicated battery housing production lines. The main factory building at the Hefei base has been topped out, and all core production equipment has been installed. Teams are now conducting line commissioning, process tuning and small-batch trial runs. Once all 18 lines reach full capacity, the plant will deliver an annual output of 2.5 million bio-based battery housings.

The mass-produced parts use long and short glass fiber reinforced bio-based polyamide 56 (PA56) composite sheets as the primary feedstock. The main panel of the housing measures 1.0 mm in thickness, while the peripheral flange is 3 mm thick. Compared with conventional metal battery housings, this bio-based composite solution cuts weight by 30% and reduces overall costs by 15%, demonstrating distinct advantages in lightweighting and cost efficiency.

Beyond weight and cost savings, the product's core competitive edge lies in high-voltage battery safety. Engineered for CATL's 800V high-voltage battery platform, PA56's low dielectric loss property meets high-voltage insulation requirements. The material also achieves the top UL94 V-0 flame retardant rating and has passed stringent safety certifications from battery manufacturers, representing a key technological breakthrough for thermoplastic composites as a replacement for metal housings.

The joint venture adopts a tripartite model combining a leading material supplier, a composite molder and an end-user battery manufacturer to enable efficient industrial collaboration. Cathay Biotech contributes the full material technology package for bio-based PA56; Kailai Composites brings mature mass-production processes for thermoplastic composite forming; CATL provides end-use application scenarios, order volume and industrial resources. The project serves as a replicable benchmark for large-scale composite material commercialization in China.