(Yicai) Aug. 12 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's biggest maker of electric vehicle batteries, has rolled out a repair service for its batteries using cell-to-pack technology to reduce expenses for car owners and seek a new growth driver.

CATL's aftermarket unit Ning Service launched the CTP repair service on Aug. 10, the Ningde-based parent company announced on the same day. The new service is significantly cheaper than full pack replacement, saving substantial costs for users and breaking the industry's "replace-only, no repair" deadlock for CTP batteries, it noted.

CTP is the dominant battery installation mode for new energy vehicles in China, achieving revolutionary energy density, space utilization, cost-effectiveness, and production efficiency breakthroughs by integrating cells directly into battery packs. However, its high integration also makes repairs extremely challenging, with such batteries usually getting replaced rather than repaired, increasing costs for car owners.

The new repair service costs far less than replacing a battery, an engineer at Ning Service's Shanghai direct-operated experience center told Yicai. Replacing a battery usually costs around CNY100,000 (USD13,910), while the repair price can be as low as CNY10,000 to CNY20,000 (USD1,390 to USD2,780), the person added.

Compared with NEV aftermarket rivals, CATL has battery technology, ownership, and ecosystem advantages, Li Wei, president of the company's quality system and aftermarket business department, said to Yicai. Ning Service aims to become the firm's third growth curve, Li pointed out.

Ning Service can provide EV users with services that span the entire lifecycle of a battery, "from production and usage to recycling and regeneration," significantly expanding CATL's aftermarket business scope, Li noted.

China's NEV after-sales maintenance market is expected to reach CNY300 billion (USD41.7 billion) by the end of this year, according to a report released by Cinda Securities last year.

Ning Service began as an after-sales service department that CATL set up in 2015 before it was upgraded to an independent brand last year. It operates more than 1,100 service centers across 75 countries, including over 800 in China. Its services include battery testing, maintenance, inspection and preparation for used NEVs, recycling, and echelon utilization.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev