(Yicai) June 26 -- China's Contemporary Amperex Technology is willing to share its technologies with overseas battery manufacturers in Europe, South Korea, and the United States, according to the chairman of the world's largest battery maker.

"How much of the goal you can achieve doesn't matter, as the key is sharing," Zheng Yuqun said yesterday at the World Economic Forum's 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China's northeastern Liaoning province. "CATL is willing to share its technologies with overseas competitors, even authorize them to use its technologies to help them build local supply chains."

In recent years, overseas markets have introduced many restrictive policies against China-made batteries, Zheng noted, adding that Chinese firms can actually help these markets to grow.

For example, Africa is rich in lithium resources, so Chinese companies can help locals process these resources into lithium carbonate and create related supply chains. Moreover, Chinese firms can bring innovative battery technologies to Europe and the US to help them achieve localized production.

About the fire that broke out on June 24 at a battery plant in South Korea, killing 23 people, Zeng said that safety should always be the priority in every link of battery supply chains, from design to manufacturing, applications, and transportation.

"What worries me is that a large part of battery makers still lacks in-depth analysis and technologies to solve their safety issues," Zeng pointed out. "Batteries can cause fires or explosions if used in large amounts."

If batteries catch fire when packaged in plants, imagine the safety hazards when used at home, Zeng warned. It is possible that some battery makers cut prices by 5 percent or 10 percent to tackle competition, but this may bring countless hazards, he added.

CATL has a reliability and safety division, which directly reports to Zeng, as safety is an important aspect of the company's technological enhancement.

CATL invested CNY4 billion (USD550.5 million) in the research and development of condensed batteries alone, with more money being allocated for battery new material development, battery recycling, and second-generation sodium batteries, Zeng said.

According to market rumors, CATL is expected to announce the new generation of sodium battery systems, which have lower costs and better performance under low temperatures, next year or soon afterward.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Futura Costaglione