CATL and Seres Deepen Aito Battery Ties With New Strategic Pact

CATL and Seres have formalized a fresh long-term strategic cooperation agreement aimed at scaling up battery production for the latter’s Aito brand, while pushing their collaboration into charging services and overseas markets. The deal was signed in Chongqing, the home base of Seres, cementing a supply relationship that has existed since Aito’s earliest days.

At the core of the arrangement sits a major capacity build-out. The two partners plan to speed up the second phase of their “factory-in-factory” project embedded within the Seres manufacturing site, which is designed to add 10 to 12 GWh of annual output. Combined with the first phase, total yearly capacity is expected to climb past 20 GWh once the expansion is finished. According to CATL, the goal is to concentrate production at a single location to strengthen supply chain resilience and sharpen competitiveness.

The factory-in-factory concept is not new for these two companies. CATL kicked off operations of two 2 CTP 2.0 battery pack lines at the Seres plant on June 30, 2025, marking both its first manufacturing foothold in Chongqing and the debut of this localized production model. That setup supplies battery systems directly alongside Aito vehicle assembly. The new agreement extends that manufacturing footprint further.

Beyond batteries rolling off the line, the partnership now stretches into charging infrastructure and battery services intended to cover the entire lifecycle of a battery pack. CATL and Seres also intend to jointly chase opportunities in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. The statement did not specify how long the agreement runs, when phase two will start operating, or which models and rollout plans the overseas push would involve.

Aito has relied on CATL batteries across every model since the brand launched, with cumulative deliveries now above 1.2 million vehicles, the battery maker said. Seres has separately refreshed its ties with Huawei, another crucial ally, signing a new five-year deal in Shenzhen on September 30 to develop the Aito business together, including a dedicated Aito team and brand-focused operations announced on October 1. For CATL, which remains the world’s largest EV battery supplier, the agreement reinforces a long-running supply bond. Data from South Korean researcher SNE Research released on October 2 showed CATL’s global EV battery installations hit 333.0 GWh in the first eight months of the year, up 25.2 percent from a year earlier, for a 39.4 percent market share.