CALB Co. Ltd.

CALB and GAC Aion have each issued statements regarding battery faults in AION S vehicles equipped with 177 Ah lithium iron phosphate batteries. GAC Aion apologized and upgraded its warranty services, including extending the battery warranty period, strengthening proactive big data monitoring, and providing free repairs and replacements, with subsidies for commercial vehicles that exceed repair time limits. CALB pledged to offer direct maintenance services for affected vehicles, with owners able to visit its service outlets for free inspection, repair, and replacement, and to take responsibility for product quality throughout the entire lifecycle. Earlier reports from Xinhua News Agency noted that since 2026, new energy commercial vehicles using this cell model have experienced concentrated issues such as cell swelling, leakage, and insulation faults, with third-party test reports confirming that the faults point to internal manufacturing defects in the cells, and related complaints on platforms like 12365auto.com and the Black Cat complaint platform continuing to rise. Industry insiders analyzed that the differing statements from the two companies stem from ambiguous areas of responsibility allocation, as power battery faults may involve multiple factors including cell quality and vehicle system integration. Mo Ke, founder of Real Lithium Research, said that second- and third-tier battery makers have relatively weaker quality control capabilities, and if standards were raised to the level of leading companies, their costs could even be higher, while the compression of validation cycles by vehicle manufacturers also deserves attention. Many industry figures believe that such incidents could affect the survival prospects of second-tier battery manufacturers, with automakers possibly favoring leading companies in procurement, and the market share of top-tier firms potentially rebounding in the short term. On the regulatory front, the 'Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles,' dubbed the strictest battery safety standard in history, officially took effect on July 1, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a symposium for key automobile manufacturers on July 17, deploying measures to strengthen supply chain management and quality safety levels.