CATL supplies Qilin battery to Nio Firefly compact car line

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited confirmed on Oct. 24, 2026, that it is supplying its Qilin battery to Nio Inc.'s Firefly compact electric vehicle line.

CATL is the world's largest traction battery manufacturer, while Firefly operates as Nio's mass-market division. The agreement marks the first time CATL has placed its premium cell-to-pack architecture into an entry-level vehicle.

The 60-kilowatt-hour ternary pack delivers a driving range of 560 kilometers under China's light-duty vehicle test cycle. That represents a 33% increase over the 420 kilometers achieved by Firefly's standard 42.1-kilowatt-hour model.

The battery system achieves a gravimetric energy density of 187.2 watt-hours per kilogram. Volumetric efficiency reaches 73.4%, allowing the larger capacity to fit inside the vehicle's standard chassis enclosure.

CATL engineered the pack using nickel-cobalt-manganese cells to replace lithium iron phosphate chemistry. The design keeps external pack dimensions, mounting bolt locations and total vehicle curb weight identical to existing production units.

Fast charging from 10% to 80% takes 33 minutes, the carmaker said. The system guarantees more than 80% retained battery capacity after 2,500 charge-discharge cycles across a 12-year operational design life.

The contract alters component sourcing for Firefly, which previously bought all traction cells from Sunwoda Electronic Co. Sunwoda supplied the 42.1-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery used in the first 90,000 Firefly deliveries.

Sunwoda loses exclusive supplier status at the sub-brand as Nio splits procurement between suppliers. Sunwoda continues to produce the base pack, while CATL captures higher-margin demand for longer-range variants.

Firefly launched the 60-kilowatt-hour battery option at 10 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2026. Complete vehicle prices for the new configuration begin at 136,800 yuan ($19,100), up 17,000 yuan from the standard base price.

Higher trims also adopt the pack. The mid-tier Glow Edition starts at 142,800 yuan, while the flagship Halo Edition is priced from 150,300 yuan with the CATL pack installed.

Under Nio's Battery-as-a-Service rental plan, the vehicle sells for 79,800 yuan. The monthly battery subscription fee rises to 599 yuan, an increase of 200 yuan above the 42.1-kilowatt-hour rental tier.

Existing Firefly owners can swap into the larger pack through Nio's automated swapping network. Outright purchasers pay a 17,000-yuan hardware difference, while subscription customers pay a 3,000-yuan service fee plus the higher monthly rate.

Safety hardware includes an all-aluminum grid enclosure with cross-shaped collision beams. The pack physically separates liquid cooling lines from electrical connectors to suppress thermal runaway across high-nickel ternary cells.

Firefly subjected the pack to 14 internal safety assessments that exceed Chinese national standards. The cell design integrates low-lithium-loss anodes, passivated cathodes and self-healing electrolytes to slow degradation during rapid charge cycles.

Applying cell-to-pack ternary batteries to compact hatchbacks challenges domestic entry-level pricing norms. Chinese carmakers previously restricted high-energy-density ternary packs to models priced above 200,000 yuan due to raw material and assembly expenses.

Firefly builds its only production model on a 2,615-millimeter wheelbase with an overall length of 4,003 millimeters. The compact EV uses a rear-mounted 120-kilowatt electric motor and accelerates to 100 kilometers per hour in 7.9 seconds.

The brand delivered 7,327 electric cars in September 2026, marking its highest monthly volume since sales began in April 2025. Cumulative volume passed 90,000 units on Oct. 16, 2026.

Initial customer shipments of the 60-kilowatt-hour configuration will begin within four weeks in November 2026. Swapping stations in major municipal networks began staging compatible packs following the Oct. 23 commercial launch.

The companies did not state whether the battery utilizes CATL's third-generation Qilin platform architecture. CATL has not published contract revenue terms or production volume targets in any stock exchange filing.

Sunwoda shares trade on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange under ticker 300207, while CATL trades under ticker 300750. Firefly's parent Nio maintains its primary listings in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.