File photo shows a Huawei logo. Credit: CnEVPost
- Smaller battery makers’ quotes run about 10% below CATL’s, aiding HIMA’s expansion in the mass market.
- Gotion will supply 81-kWh battery packs for the Aito M6, breaking CATL’s sole-supplier status.
Huawei’s HIMA (Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance) business is bringing in more power battery suppliers beyond CATL (HKEX: 3750), aiming to cut costs amid fierce competition.
The Aito brand, long supplied exclusively by CATL, will add second-tier battery makers CALB (HKEX: 3931) and Gotion High-tech (SZSE: 002074), and the Aito M6 has now been designated to use Gotion’s 81-kWh battery pack, 36Kr reported, citing several industry sources.
Gotion received a sourcing letter from HIMA last year, and CALB will also enter Aito’s supply system, according to people familiar with the matter.
The shift breaks Aito’s previously tight bond with CATL. In August 2022, Seres (HKEX: 9927), the owner of the Aito brand, signed a five-year strategic cooperation agreement with CATL, announcing that Aito models would be fully equipped with CATL batteries.
Last June, CATL even started up a production line inside Aito’s factory, marking CATL’s first rollout of its “factory-within-a-factory” model, the 36Kr report noted.
The push to bring in secondary suppliers extends beyond Aito. The report said Luxeed, the EV brand jointly built by Huawei and Chery (HKEX: 9973), will add Gotion and Sunwoda (SZSE: 300207). Luxeed’s batteries were previously supplied by CATL and CALB.
Gotion’s 81-kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack may also be used in models from Shangjie, the EV brand jointly built by Huawei and SAIC Motor (SSE: 600104).
HIMA is conducting pre-mass-production audits of Gotion’s factory, and Huawei has stationed personnel at its cell production line, 36Kr said, citing people from the battery maker.
Cost reduction is the core driver behind HIMA’s move. For LFP battery packs of the same capacity, quotes from Gotion and Sunwoda run about 10% below CATL’s, according to a battery industry source.
Taking the 81-kWh battery as an example, a 10% price gap could translate to a cost difference of nearly 2,000 yuan ($296). At a time when supply chain costs are under pressure, that is a considerable amount of savings.
Cost pressure is hanging over the entire industry. At the 2026 China Auto Chongqing Summit earlier this month, Seres Chairman Zhang Xinghai said the average per-vehicle cost of the Aito brand had risen by 15,000 to 20,000 yuan.
Prices of memory chips and lithium carbonate have surged this year, adding to cost pressure for EV makers.
Huawei does not purchase batteries directly. It has set a technical benchmark, the “Giant Whale Battery” platform. Battery makers can only enter HIMA’s supply chain after passing this standard.
At the 2026 Greater Bay Area Auto Show (Shenzhen Auto Show) earlier this month, both CALB and Gotion displayed the “Giant Whale Battery” label at their booths.
The urgency to cut costs is tied to HIMA’s sales targets. Huawei dxecutive director Richard Yu has said HIMA’s delivery target for 2026 is 1 million to 1.3 million units.
But from January to May this year, HIMA delivered about 192,000 units in total, of which more than 130,000 came from Aito. The alliance still relies heavily on a single brand.
The mass market is key to HIMA’s growth. Brands such as Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) and Xiaomi (HKEX: 1810) are targeting that segment with aggressive pricing.
Earlier today, Aito added two new BEV versions for the M6, with the starting price dropping to 229,800 yuan, 50,000 yuan lower than the previous BEV starting price.
Still, the plan remains subject to change. A person close to HIMA said that the arrangements are not yet finalized until the regulatory filings for the new models are published.
CATL is also unlikely to give up this key customer easily. To compete for HIMA’s orders, CATL is evaluating its pricing strategy, 36Kr said, citing sources.
CATL remained China’s largest power battery maker in May, though its share edged down 0.51 percentage points from April.
($1 = 6.7571 yuan)
