Contemporary Amperex Technology, known as CATL and recognised as the world’s largest battery manufacturer, has entered a strategic investment partnership with CarbonScape, a New Zealand-founded company that develops sustainable, bio-based graphite materials for battery applications.
The agreement pairs CarbonScape’s biographite technology with CATL’s manufacturing scale and industrial expertise, aiming to accelerate commercial production of a lower carbon alternative to conventional graphite.
As part of the deal, CATL will receive board representation at CarbonScape and will serve as a key industrialisation partner as automakers and policymakers look for graphite supply chains that are lower carbon, locally sourced, and cost competitive across the United States and Europe.
Electric vehicle adoption and energy storage growth are expected to push demand for battery-grade graphite sharply higher in the coming years.
CarbonScape has developed a proprietary process that transforms forestry by-products into graphite suitable for lithium-ion batteries.
Under the new partnership, CATL will bring its experience in industrial scale-up, process optimisation, manufacturing operations, and commercialisation to help bring that process to market.
CarbonScape Chief Executive Ivan Williams described the agreement as more than a capital infusion.
“It provides access to CATL’s unparalleled expertise in scaling and mass production, world-class facilities, global market reach, and a clear pathway to gigafactory-scale deployment,” said Williams.
“It validates the strategic importance of biographite in the future of electrification and uniquely aligns technical de-risking with route-to-market readiness.”
He said the two companies are working toward bringing commercial biographite output online by the end of the decade.
Oscar Luo, who leads global business development, licensing and venture management at CATL, said sustainable innovation throughout the battery supply chain is central to advancing the broader energy transition.
He characterised CarbonScapes’ approach to producing graphite from renewable resources as a genuine breakthrough in materials science and said the collaboration reflects a broader shift toward cleaner, smarter energy production rather than simply scaling up a single process.
CarbonScapes Chief Commercial Officer, Vincent Ledoux-Pedailles, called graphite the overlooked component of the battery supply chain, noting it makes up the largest share of any electric vehicle battery by volume even though most of the world’s supply still comes from oil-based sources.
“What we have built at CarbonScape is the only proven pathway to produce battery-grade graphite from forestry residues, at target cost parity with conventional graphite and with a carbon-negative footprint,” said Ledoux-Pedailles.
“CATL’s investment is the most powerful validation this technology could receive.”
Lochpine Capital, which is also investing in CarbonScape alongside CATL, framed its involvement as part of a broader commitment to technologies tied to the global energy transition.
Lead partner Blake Niu said CarbonScape’s forestry-based approach to graphite production stood out as a differentiated strategy worth supporting as the company moves toward commercialisation.
Stora Enso, an existing strategic shareholder in CarbonScape, also weighed in on the announcement.
Juuso Konttinen, the company’s head of growth, said scaling a sustainable anode material requires the right combination of partners, and that CATL’s investment, paired with continued backing from Stora Enso, positions CarbonScape to build an integrated supply chain stretching from responsibly managed forests to finished batteries.
Graphite is the largest single material in lithium-ion batteries by volume, accounting for as much as half of a battery cell’s composition.
A typical electric vehicle contains between fifty and one hundred kilograms of graphite, more than the combined weight of lithium, nickel, and cobalt used in the same vehicle.
Industry estimates suggest global demand for battery-grade graphite could grow roughly sixfold between 2025 and 2040 as electric vehicle and energy storage markets expand.
More than three-quarters of the graphite currently used in batteries is derived from oil-based feedstocks, a dynamic that CarbonScapes’ forestry-based process is designed to help change by supporting more regional, lower-carbon supply chains.
The partnership includes equity-based incentives tied to milestones in CarbonScapes commercial rollout, according to the companies.
