Electric Last Mile Solutions (ELMS), a US commercial electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, announced on Thursday that it has signed a battery supply agreement with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), reports Reuters. Financial terms of the deal, which runs through 2025, were not disclosed.
CATL’s batteries power the Class 1 small delivery vehicle that ELMS began building last month at its plant in the US state of Indiana. The companies are also exploring the possibility of CATL having a US plant that would make battery cells and ship them to the ELMS plant in Indiana for assembly into battery packs, an ELMS spokesman said.
“We reached an important milestone to secure battery capacity in an extremely challenging supply environment,” ELMS’ deputy chief financial officer, Rob Song, said in a statement.
Battery makers are boosting production to meet soaring worldwide demand as car manufacturers accelerate the shift to electric vehicles to comply with tougher emission rules aimed at tackling climate change.
