{"id":511742,"date":"2026-07-06T02:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T02:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/511742\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T02:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T02:57:09","slug":"chinese-battery-giant-catl-takes-20-stake-in-kiwi-firm-carbonscape-in-green-graphite-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/511742\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese battery giant CATL takes 20% stake in Kiwi firm CarbonScape in green graphite push"},"content":{"rendered":"The parties said the collaboration would combine CarbonScape\u2019s biographite technology with CATL\u2019s extensive experience in industrialisation, manufacturing and large-scale deployment.<\/p>\n
CATL will get board representation.<\/p>\n
The companies said automakers and policymakers were seeking low-carbon, locally sourced and cost-competitive anode materials for the US and European graphite supply chain.<\/p>\n
The rapid growth of electric mobility and energy storage is expected to drive significant demand for battery-grade graphite.<\/p>\n
CarbonScape CEO Ivan Williams said the partnership would provide access to CATL\u2019s global reach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt validates the strategic importance of biographite in the future of electrification and uniquely aligns technical de-risking with route-to-market readiness.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, we aim to bring commercial biographite production online by the end of the decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
CATL executive president Oscar Luo said sustainable innovation across the battery value chain was essential to advancing the global energy transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarbonScape\u2019s technology introduces a novel method for producing battery-grade graphite from renewable resources, embodying a true breakthrough in material science.\u201d<\/p>\n
CarbonScape chief commercial officer Vincent Ledoux-Pedailles said graphite was the forgotten giant of the battery supply chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have built at CarbonScape is the only proven pathway to produce battery-grade graphite from forestry residues, at target cost parity with conventional graphite and with a carbon-negative footprint.\u201d <\/p>\n
Graphite is the single largest material component in lithium-ion batteries by weight, representing up to 50% of the anode mass.<\/p>\n
Each electric vehicle contains roughly 50-100kg of graphite \u2013 more than lithium, nickel, and cobalt combined \u2013 making it one of the most critical materials for the energy transition.<\/p>\n
CarbonScape said global demand for battery-grade graphite is expected to grow sixfold between 2025 and 2040, EVs and demand for energy storage.<\/p>\n
Meeting this demand would require substantial new production capacity and the development of alternative, more sustainable supply sources that are less carbon-intensive than synthetic graphite but still cost-competitive.<\/p>\n
As it stands, more than 75% of graphite used in batteries comes from an oil-based feedstock.<\/p>\n
CarbonScape\u2019s technology addresses both challenges by enabling the production of battery-grade graphite from widely available forestry byproducts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach supports the development of regional supply chains while helping battery and automotive manufacturers meet increasingly stringent sustainability and regulatory requirements,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our\u00a0Business newsletter<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The parties said the collaboration would combine CarbonScape\u2019s biographite technology with CATL\u2019s extensive experience in industrialisation, manufacturing and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2327,254602,14105,6081,138,254604,254601,70460,4444,1656,126505,1138,3238,71,13313,23821,2518,305,20588,78,1426,194,45499,254603,1446,397,111,139,69,15400,1130,19554,1120,145,5977],"class_list":["post-511742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-2327","tag-amperex","tag-applications","tag-battery","tag-business","tag-byproducts","tag-carbonscape","tag-catl","tag-chinese","tag-company","tag-contemporary","tag-firm","tag-forestry","tag-from","tag-giant","tag-graphite","tag-green","tag-have","tag-hong","tag-in","tag-investment","tag-kiwi","tag-kong","tag-lochpine","tag-making","tag-materials","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-push","tag-stake","tag-taken","tag-takes","tag-technology","tag-which"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}