宁德时代成为全球比较大电动车电池制造商
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co said it was a supplier to global car companies including BMW and Volkswagen, and had started working with Chinese electric car start-up Nio, whose backers include Tencent, JD.com and Baidu. 该公司表示，它是包括宝马(BMW)、大众(Volkswagen)在内的多家跨国汽车公司的供应商，并已开始与中国电动车初创公司蔚来(Nio)合作，后者的投资方包括腾讯(Tencent)、京东(JD.com)和百度(Baidu)。
This expanding customer base helped pushed battery sales to 12 Gigawatt hours last year, ahead of Japan’s Panasonic, the company said in its filing. 宁德时代在招股书中表示，不断扩大的客户基础推动其去年电池销量达到12GWh，超过了日本的松下电器(Panasonic)，后者销量是10GWh。
Panasonic sold 10 GWh, it said, as measured by the amount of electrical energy, which is the standard used to measure battery capacity. 宁德时代的快速发展突显了中国主导电动车行业供应链的雄心，中国政府限制外国电池制造商为全球最大的中国市场供货。
The growth of CATL highlights China’s ambition to dominate the supply chain for electric cars, which has seen the government restrict foreign battery producers from supplying its domestic market, the world’s largest. 电池技术对电动车的性能至关重要，因为电池是电动车上最贵、最重的组件。伯恩斯坦(Bernstein)的分析师表示，一组续航里程500公里的电池现在的成本约为2万美元，相比之下，一台汽油发动机的成本只有5000美元。
Battery technology is critical for the success of EVs, since they are the costliest and heaviest component of the car. A battery pack with a range of 500km costs around $20,000 today, compared with the $5,000 cost of a gasoline engine, according to analysts at Bernstein. 他们表示，技术进步将有助于降低电池成本，使电动车成本最早在2021年降到与汽油车相当。
Advances in technology will help push down battery costs, making EVs cost competitive with petrol cars as early as 2021, they said. 2011年，化学家曾毓群(Robin Zeng)在中国东部的宁德市成立了宁德时代，它是从日本电池制造商——新能源科技集团(ATL)剥离出来的。宁德时代希望利用此次IPO募集的资金扩容24GWh的电池产能，使总产能到2020年达到50GWh。
CATL was founded in 2011 in the eastern city of Ningde by chemist Robin Zeng as a spin-off of Japan’s battery maker ATL. It hopes to use the proceeds of its IPO for an additional 24 GWh of battery capacity to reach a total of 50 GWh by 2020. 特斯拉汽车(Tesla Motor)与松下合资、位于内华达州的“超级工厂”(Gigafactory)的电池年产能目标是35GWh。
Tesla Motor’s is targeting annual capacity of 35 GWh of batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada, which is a joint-venture with Panasonic. 然而，松下正在追赶宁德时代。松下周二表示，其位于大连的中国首家电池工厂已开始生产电动车电池。
Panasonic is catching up to CATL, however. The company said Tuesday it had started production of EV batteries at its first battery factory in China, in the north eastern city of Dalian. 该公司表示：“随着这家工厂开始汽车锂离子电池的量产、发货，松下如今拥有了覆盖日本、美国、中国这三个全球关键地的生产体系。”
“With the beginning of mass production shipments of automobile lithium-ion batteries from this factory, Panasonic now has a production system covering Japan, the United States, and China, the three key global locations,” it said. 宁德时代的客户包括了所有中国大型汽车制造商，如上汽集团(SAIC Motor)、北汽集团(BAIC Group)、吉利(Geely)、东风汽车(Dongfeng Motor)、长安汽车(Changan Auto)等。
CATL’s customers include all the major Chinese producers including SAIC Motor, BAIC Group, Geely, Dongfeng Motor, and Changan Auto. 但该公司也在国际上扩张，并在去年收购了芬兰的瓦尔麦特汽车(Valmet Automotive) 22%的股份，后者曾为萨博(Saab)、欧宝(Opel)、保时捷(Porsche)和梅赛德斯-奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)制造汽车。
But the company is also expanding internationally, and last year bought a 22 per cent stake in Finland’s Valmet Automotive, which has manufactured cars for Saab, Opel, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. 宁德时代2017年的电池销量数据包括电动汽车电池，也包括电动巴士和电动卡车的电池。该公司表示，去年净利润增至39.7亿元人民币(合6.28亿美元)，前年为30.2亿元人民币。
The company’s 2017 battery sales figures include batteries in electric cars as well as electric buses and trucks. CATL said its net income rose to RMB3.97bn ($628m) last year, compared to RMB 3.02bn a year earlier. 译者/申凯
