Recently, Zhongxinhang issued an announcement, disclosing the news that Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. has officially filed a lawsuit with the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court.

The key to CATL’s lawsuit this time is the top cover assembly of the secondary battery and related invention patents. The company accused Zhongxinhang and Hangzhou Pengxing Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd. of infringing its intellectual property rights and made specific compensation claims. According to the announcement, CATL’s lawsuit mainly has three points: first, requiring Zhongxinhang to immediately stop infringing the patent involved in the lawsuit, including stopping the manufacture, sale and commitment to sell related products; second, requiring Zhongxinhang to compensate for economic losses totaling 90 million yuan; third, additional compensation of 1 million yuan for reasonable expenses spent to stop the infringement.

Faced with the lawsuit, Zhongxinhang urgently responded that the patent involved in the lawsuit belongs to the battery top cover structure, the company has a completely independent intellectual property layout, and firmly believes that this lawsuit will not have a significant adverse impact on the company’s production and operation. At the same time, it is reported that Zhongxinhang has submitted a request for invalidation of the patent rights of the patent involved in the lawsuit to the National Intellectual Property Administration, and it has been accepted.

In fact, this is not the first patent “defense war” between the two parties. Since July 2021, CATL has filed 6 patent infringement lawsuits against Zhongxinhang, with a cumulative claim amount of about 700 million yuan. At present, in the 6 patent infringement lawsuits, CATL has lost two and won three, and another lawsuit is still awaiting the first instance judgment.

Combined with the lawsuit at the beginning of this year, the cumulative amount of lawsuits filed by CATL against Zhongxinhang has increased to about 800 million yuan.

Faced with CATL’s multiple lawsuits, Zhongxinhang began to fight back last year. In October 2024, Zhongxinhang filed 4 patent infringement lawsuits against CATL and related companies, with a total claim amount of up to 1.007 billion yuan.

The patent “defense war” is intensifying, which is a true reflection of the fierce competition in the current power battery industry. Industry insiders analyzed that behind CATL’s multiple lawsuits is the company’s uneasiness in the market competition.

From 2017 to 2023, CATL ranked first in the world in terms of installed capacity of power batteries for seven consecutive years. This phenomenon continued in 2024, but the year-on-year growth rate of installed capacity slowed down.

In the past two years, affected by weak downstream demand, the growth rate of global power battery installed capacity has slowed down significantly. In 2023, the growth rate of global power battery installed capacity was 38.6%. In 2022, this figure was 71.8%. In the first 11 months of 2024, the growth rate was only 26.4%.

Under the overall trend, the growth rate of installed capacity of leading battery manufacturers such as CATL and BYD (002594) declined simultaneously. Data shows that in the first 11 months of last year, CATL still ranked first in the world in terms of installed capacity of power batteries, with a cumulative installed capacity of 289.3GWh, a year-on-year increase of 28%, which was nearly half of the growth rate of 48.3% in the same period of 2023. BYD ranked second, with a cumulative installed capacity of 134.4GWh and a growth rate of 35.9%, which is also a sharp decline from the growth rate of 60.4% in 2023.

The above-mentioned industry insiders said that this trend may continue this year.

In order to alleviate the impact of market competition, CATL “went all out” last year. The addition of Xiaoyao hybrid batteries and Tianxing heavy-duty truck batteries enriched its battery brand matrix and built four major battery brands, corresponding to economic models, high-end models, extended-range (hybrid) models and commercial vehicles. Not only that, at the end of 2024, CATL successively launched chocolate battery swap solutions and rock chassis to consolidate its leading supplier position in the automotive industry.

Industry insiders believe that CATL’s performance last year was more like a strategic choice under the challenges of multiple markets. Faced with the rise of more new competitors and the rapid iteration of the market, the company will face more challenges in the future.