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Factbox-Companies react to U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe vs. Wade

Factbox-Companies react to U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe vs. Wade 150 150 admin

(Reuters) – A handful of U.S. companies were quick to outline their policies for employees after the nation’s top court decided to overturn the landmark ruling that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide.

Several companies were already offering reproductive healthcare benefits, including abortion coverage or travel benefits for out-of-state abortion, before Friday’s decision as some state legislatures had imposed tighter restrictions.

Reaction from U.S. companies:

Company Name Comment

WALT DISNEY The company said it will cover travel benefits for employees seeking family planning or

reproductive care.

META PLATFORMS The social media company said it intends to offer travel expense reimbursements, to the

extent permitted by law, for employees who will need them to access out-of-state health care

and reproductive services. “We are in the process of assessing how best to do so given the

legal complexities involved.”

MICROSOFT The software giant reiterated that it would cover travel expense for abortion and other

lawful medical services where access to care is limited in an employee’s home geographic

region, a company spokesperson said.

CVS HEALTH The company said it had made out-of-state care accessible for employees residing in states

that have instituted laws that limit access. “With the new decision, we are evaluating how

we can best support the coverage needs of colleagues, clients and customer.”

NETFLIX The streaming pioneer reiterated it offers a travel reimbursement coverage for full-time

U.S. employees and their dependents who need to travel for abortion through its health

plans. The coverage is a $10,000 lifetime allowance per employee and/or their dependents per

service.

BUMBLE The dating app owner said it will continue to support its employees to get access to the

healthcare services that they need.

UNITEDHEALTH The largest U.S. health insurer said it was reviewing the court’s opinion.

BLOCK The payments company will cover expenses for U.S. employees who must travel more than 100

miles for abortions, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The policy will come

into effect starting July 1, according to the source.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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Toyota, Subaru shares drop on “embarrassing” recalls of first EVs

Toyota, Subaru shares drop on “embarrassing” recalls of first EVs 150 150 admin

By Maki Shiraki and Satoshi Sugiyama

TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor shares slipped after it recalled some of its first mass-made all-electric cars, launched two months ago, because of a risk of wheels coming loose, a setback to its ambitions to electrify its model range.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker by sales, said on Thursday it would recall 2,700 bZ4X SUVs globally.

Subaru Corp, in which Toyota has a nearly 20% stake, also said it was recalling about 2,600 units of the Solterra, a related model.

The Solterra, Subaru’s first all-electric vehicle, was jointly developed with Toyota and shares major components with the bZ4X.

The recall adds to problems at Toyota, which has been forced to cut production frequently this year due to the global chip shortage and other supply issues and is facing investor pressure because of its slowness in embracing battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

“It’s embarrassing,” said Christopher Richter, an analyst at CLSA. “People have waited so long for Toyota to get a mass market battery electric vehicle … and just a few weeks after they get it in the market there’s a recall.”

But it “was not an indictment of the new electric vehicle system ” he added, because the problem was a simple mechanical one and the fix was unlikely to be expensive.

Japan’s safety regulator said sharp turns and sudden braking could cause a hub bolt to loosen, raising the risk of a wheel coming off the vehicle. It said it was not aware of any accidents being caused by the defect.

The problem was discovered after people in the United States had driven the cars, said an official at Japan’s Ministry of Transport, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Toyota had reported that one car, in particular, had been roughly handled. “We don’t know who the driver was, but the driver drove the car very hard,” the official said, adding that Toyota had found the problem, which affected only a few cars.

Spokespeople at Toyota and Subaru said the companies had not yet decided how soon they could fix the problem and proceed with the rollout, because the cause had not yet been determined.

Toyota said on Thursday that not every car of this model was subject to the recall but declined to say how many it had built overall.

Subaru shares, which fell nearly 5% on Friday, closed down 2.8%. Toyota stock closed 0.7% lower.

Once a favourite with environmentalists for its popular hybrid Prius model, Toyota has come under fire for not acting quickly enough to phase out gasoline-powered cars and for its lobbying on climate policy.

The company has repeatedly pushed back against the criticism, arguing the necessity to offer a variety of powertrains to suit different markets and customers.

Japan changed a key policy document to show its support for hybrids was on par that for with BEVs after a lawmaker cited the head of Toyota saying automakers could not back a government that rejected the technology popularised by the Prius, Reuters reported on Friday.

Gasoline-electric hybrid models remain far more popular in Toyota’s home market than EVs, which accounted for just 1% of passenger cars sold in Japan last year, based on industry data.

(Reporting by Tokyo bureau; Editing by Sam Holmes and Bradley Perrett)

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EU plan for life without Russian gas a priority as leaders meet

EU plan for life without Russian gas a priority as leaders meet 150 150 admin

By Jan Strupczewski and Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -EU leaders will on Friday discuss how to respond to soaring energy prices and the threat of a total cut-off of Russian gas, accusing Moscow of “weaponising” energy via a supply squeeze that Germany warned could partly shut down its industry this winter.

A day after celebrations over setting Kyiv on the road to membership of the bloc, Friday’s summit in Brussels was set to be a sober reflection on the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Leaders of the 27 European Union nations will, according to a draft summit statement seen by Reuters, place the blame for a huge spike in prices and sagging global growth on the war that began exactly four months ago.

Following unprecedented Western sanctions imposed over the invasion, a dozen European countries have so far been thumped by cuts in gas flows from Russia.

“It is only a matter of time before the Russians close down all gas shipments,” said one EU official ahead of Friday’s talks.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck warned his country was heading for a gas shortage if Russian supplies remained as low as currently, and some industries would have to be shut down come the winter.

“Companies would have to stop production, lay off their workers, supply chains would collapse, people would go into debt to pay their heating bills,” he told Der Spiegel magazine, adding it was part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy to divide the country.

The EU relied on Russia for as much as 40% of its gas needs before the war – rising to 55% for Germany – leaving a huge gap to fill in an already tight global gas market.

‘WEAPONISATION OF GAS’

According to a draft statement seen by Reuters, EU leaders will say that “in the face of the weaponisation of gas by Russia”, the European Commission should find ways to secure “supply at affordable prices”.

EU countries have already poured billions of euros into tax cuts and subsidies to combat surging energy prices.

But that adds up to hefty bills for already stretched coffers, leaving many scrambling to find a solution, and EU countries disagree on a bloc-wide solution to address soaring prices.

Spain and Portugal capped gas prices in their local electricity market this month, but other states warn price caps would disrupt energy markets and drain state coffers further, if governments had to pay the difference between the capped price and the price in international gas markets.

“We need to start buying energy collectively, we need to implement price caps and we need to make plans together to get through the winter,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday as he arrived at the EU summit.

“If we don’t pay attention then the whole EU economy will go into a recession with all its consequences.”

The bloc responded to the war with uncharacteristic speed and unity, but some sanctions, such as a planned embargo on Russian oil imports, have repercussions for its economies.

Inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro currency has shot to all-time highs above 8% and the EU’s executive expects economic growth to dip to 2.7% this year.

Eurogroup chief Paschal Donohoe warned that the bloc must “acknowledge the risk we could face if inflation becomes embedded in our economies”.

“If inflation becomes a real, durable part of our economies in the years to come, the challenge that we face with the standard of living and the cost of living will only grow in the years ahead. It’s a very difficult challenge.”

Rome has called for EU leaders to reconvene for an exceptional mid-July meeting to discuss ways to deal with rising gas prices but there is no plan to do so at the moment, an EU official said.

Another EU official, however, said some EU leaders were considering the option to hold an extra summit in July to talk about broader economic issues.

(Reporting by Phil Blenkinsop, Marine Strauss, Bart Meijer, Francesco Guarascio, Kate Abnett, Jan Strupczewski; Additional reporting by Miranda Murray in Berlin, Gianluca Semeraro in Rome; writing by Jan Strupczewski, Phil Blenkinsop and Ingrid Melander; editing by John Chalmers, Sam Holmes and Alex Richardson)

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Explainer-Can crypto holders recoup losses in court?

Explainer-Can crypto holders recoup losses in court? 150 150 admin

By Jody Godoy

(Reuters) – A downturn in cryptocurrency prices and crash of one stablecoin has led some investors to try to recover their losses in U.S. court. Here is how cryptocurrency litigation has fared so far and the challenges investors may face.

WHO IS BEING SUED?

Companies that created cryptocurrencies, exchanges that facilitated their sale, and individuals who promoted them have all been sued.

Kyle Roche, who represents cryptocurrency holders in several lawsuits, said U.S. claims over cryptocurrency often involve alleged violations of federal securities or commodities laws, which prohibit fraud and manipulation and require products and operators to be registered with U.S. authorities.

The latest lawsuit took aim at Terraform Labs, the company behind Terra USD, over the stablecoin’s recent collapse.

A crytocurrency investor sued the Seoul-based company and its Chief Executive Do Kwon on June 17, alleging they failed to register the company’s digital assets as securities and worked with several venture capital funds that backed Terra USD to defraud investors.

A Terraform Labs spokesperson called the claims meritless.

Tether, which is behind the world’s largest stablecoin, has been accused of rigging cryptocurrency markets in a lawsuit in New York. And Ripple, whose founders created the token XRP, has been hit with a lawsuit in California, claiming it sold unregistered securities.

Both lawsuits have survived motions to dismiss.

A spokesperson said Ripple disputes the allegations and will defend against them. Tether did not respond to a request for comment.

Cryptocurrency exchanges have been another target for investors seeking to recoup losses.

Binance U.S. was sued on June 13 by investors claiming it falsely marketed TerraUSD as a safe asset ahead of its collapse. And in March, investors accused Coinbase of selling 79 digital assets as unregistered securities.

Binance and Coinbase have denied the allegations.

Investors are also suing celebrities who have publicly touted cryptocurrency. A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles claims Reality TV star Kim Kardashian and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. engaged in a cryptocurrency pump and dump. Representatives for Kardashian and Mayweather did not respond to requests for comment.

LEGAL HURDLES

A wave of lawsuits brought in 2020 against exchanges alleging they fueled an illegal boom in digital coins largely failed after judges found some of the claims were filed too late or had too little connection to the United States.

Timing should not be an issue for newer lawsuits, but cryptocurrency holders seeking to sue overseas companies in U.S. court could still face hurdles.

Token holders won a default judgment in New York against Singapore-based exchange KuCoin, but dropped the case after a Singaporean court would not make the company provide information to enforce the judgment.

KuCoin did not respond to a request for comment.

Another potential hurdle for investors filing claims under securities or commodities laws will be showing their tokens meet the legal definition of those assets. Some courts have ruled that certain cryptocurrencies fit the bill, but the issue remains unsettled.

Cryptocurrency holders may face additional obstacles when going after exchanges. In the Coinbase lawsuit, the exchange has argued that it was not a party to the transactions, and that private litigants cannot enforce registration requirements.

HAVE ANY CRYPTO HOLDERS WON MONEY IN COURT?

While many cryptocurrency lawsuits are pending, the SEC has reclaimed some funds for investors in a handful of digital assets through settlements.

But even after a settlement, investors may face long waits and still end up with less than they shelled out.

Last year, blockchain company Block.one agreed to pay $27.5 million to settle token holders’ lawsuit alleging it had violated securities law.

More than 100 token holders filed claims worth more than $75.7 million, according to court filings. The settlement has not yet received final approval.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Richard Chang)

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Fed’s inflation fight is ‘unconditional,’ Powell says

Fed’s inflation fight is ‘unconditional,’ Powell says 150 150 admin

(Reuters) – The Federal Reserve’s commitment to reining in 40-year-high inflation is “unconditional,” U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Thursday, even as he acknowledged that sharply higher interest rates may push up unemployment.

“We really need to restore price stability … because without that we’re not going to be able to have a sustained period of maximum employment where the benefits are spread very widely,” Powell told the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. “It’s something that we need to do, we must do.”

Powell’s testimony marked a second straight day of grilling in Congress over the Fed’s efforts to control inflation that, by the central bank’s preferred measure, is running at more than three times its 2% target. Fast-rising prices for gas, food, housing and a broad array of other items are sapping American wages, hurting businesses, and lifting fears of a sharp economic downturn and a steep rise in unemployment.

On Wednesday, Powell told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that the Fed was not trying to provoke a recession but that one was “certainly a possibility,” with recent global events, specifically the Ukraine war and COVID-19 pandemic, making it more difficult to tame inflation without inducing a downturn.

Price pressures have continued to build for months, forcing the Fed to ramp up its tightening of financial conditions in an attempt to cool demand while hoping that some supply chain issues begin to untangle this year.

Last week, the Fed raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point – its biggest hike since 1994 – to a range of 1.50% to 1.75%, and signaled its policy rate would rise to 3.4% by the end of this year.

Speaking in a June 15 news conference, Powell said the central bank would very likely need to raise rates by either 50 or 75 basis points at its next meeting in July. Since then, other Fed officials have echoed his stance on getting borrowing costs into slightly restrictive territory in short order.

Some have gone further.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman on Thursday said she supported a 75-basis-point increase in July, followed by 50-basis-point increases in “the next few” subsequent meetings, a more aggressive path of rate hikes than most of her fellow central bankers currently contemplate.

Economists polled by Reuters earlier this week forecast the Fed would deliver another 75-basis-point rate hike next month, followed by a half-percentage-point rise in September, with no scaling back to quarter-percentage-point moves until November at the earliest.

NO PRECISION TOOLS

There are already some tentative signs of softening in the still red-hot U.S. labor market. Data released on Thursday showed new claims for unemployment benefits, which hit a 53-year low in March, edged down last week while a key gauge of manufacturing and services activity cooled to its slowest growth path in five months.

Under questioning by members of the House panel on Thursday, Powell said there was a risk the Fed’s actions could lead to a rise in unemployment. The U.S. jobless rate stood at 3.6% in May.

“We don’t have precision tools,” he said, “so there is a risk that unemployment would move up, from what is historically a low level though. A labor market with 4.1% or 4.3% unemployment is still a very strong labor market.”

At the same time, however, Powell said a recession is not inevitable, as even former Fed colleagues have claimed; he expects U.S. economic growth to pick up in the second half of this year after a sluggish start to 2022.

Over the course of the three-hour session, Powell was asked about the possibility of raising the Fed’s 2% inflation target, a solution proposed in some circles as one way to give the central bank more scope to boost employment. His response was definitive: “That’s just not something we would do.”

Powell was equally dismissive of the possibility of cutting interest rates in a hypothetical situation where unemployment was rising and inflation remained high. “We can’t fail on this: we really have to get inflation down to 2%,” he said.

The Fed chief also was asked about the central bank’s balance sheet, which was built up to around $9 trillion during the pandemic in an effort to ease financial conditions and is now being pared. The Fed aims to get it “roughly in the range of $2.5 or $3 trillion smaller than it is now,” Powell said.

 

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir, Ann Saphir and Dan Burns; Editing by Paul Simao)

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California Senate rejects involuntary servitude amendment

California Senate rejects involuntary servitude amendment 150 150 admin

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal to ban involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration warned it could cost taxpayers billions of dollars by forcing the state to pay inmates who work while in prison a $15-per-hour minimum wage.

California’s constitution bans both slavery and involuntary servitude — forcing someone to provide labor against their will — but there is an exception for the punishment of a crime. Some state lawmakers proposed an amendment to remove that exception, an amendment that must first be approved by voters.

But the state Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, on Thursday failed to put the amendment on the ballot this fall. They could try again next week. But if it doesn’t pass by June 30, it won’t be on the ballot this year.

California is one of many states that allows involuntary servitude for the punishment of a crime. For decades, the state used that exception to make money from its prison population by leasing inmates — mostly Black men — to private companies for work.

That “convict lease” system doesn’t exist anymore. But California prison inmates are required to either work or participate in education or rehabilitative programs. Inmate jobs — which include things like clerks, painters and carpenters — pay salaries that range from a low of 8 cents per hour to 37 cents per hour.

The Newsom administration warned the amendment could require the state to pay prison inmates the minimum wage, which in California is $15 per hour for companies with 26 or more employees. That could cost taxpayers $1.5 billion per year.

Many Democrats did not vote for the bill because they were worried about how it would impact the prison system.

“The question this measure raises is whether or not Californians should require felons in state prison to work,” Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer said. “Banning the work requirement in our prisons would undermine our rehabilitation programs (and) make prison more difficult to manage safely.”

Democratic state Sen. Sydney Kamlager said it was immoral for the California Constitution to allow involuntary servitude, a form of slavery.

“Slavery is still alive and well and nicely packaged in the form of involuntary servitude,” Kamlager said. “California is a plantation state.”

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North Dakota farmland purchase tied to Gates stirs emotion

North Dakota farmland purchase tied to Gates stirs emotion 150 150 admin

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The sale of prime North Dakota farmland to a group tied to Bill Gates has stirred emotions over a Depression-era law meant to protect family farms and raised questions about whether the billionaire shares the state’s values.

The state’s attorney general has asked the trust that acquired the land to explain how it plans to use it in order to meet rules outlined in the state’s archaic anti-corporate farming law. It prohibits all corporations or limited liability companies from owning or leasing farmland or ranchland, with some exceptions.

“I don’t know that it’s quite as volatile a situation as some have depicted,” North Dakota Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley told The Associated Press Thursday. “It’s taken off, it’s all over the planet, but it’s not me sticking a finger in the eye of Bill Gates. That’s not what this is.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Agriculture Commissioner, Republican Doug Goehring, told a North Dakota TV station that many people feel they are being exploited by the ultra-rich who buy land but do not necessarily share the state’s values. Goehring, who is currently on a state-sponsored trade mission to the United Kingdom, did not immediately respond to a list of questions emailed by the AP.

“I’ve gotten a big earful on this from clear across the state, it’s not even from that neighborhood,” Goehring told KFYR-TV. “Those people are upset, but there are others that are just livid about this.”

Charles V. Zehren, a spokesman for Gates’ investment firm, declined Thursday to comment to the AP.

Wrigley said the corporate farming inquiry goes out “as a matter of course” when his office is notified of farmland sales, in this case Red River Trust’s $13.5 million purchase of property in two counties from wealthy northeastern North Dakota potato growers Campbell Farms. Phone calls to Campbell Farms went unanswered.

“It’s meant to get everybody up to speed on what the ownership arrangement is and what are their intentions are for the land,” Wrigley said. “If it complies with state law, the matter goes forward. If not, they’re informed they’re going to have to divest of the land.”

Corporations are exempted from the law if the land is necessary “for residential or commercial development; the siting of buildings, plants, facilities, industrial parks, or similar business or industrial purposes of the corporation or limited liability company; or for uses supportive of or ancillary to adjacent non agricultural land for the benefit of both land parcels,” the law reads.

It’s not the first test for a statute that was passed in 1932. A federal judge in 2018 ruled the law constitutional after a conservative farm group argued that it limits business options for producers and interferes with interstate commerce by barring out-of-state corporations from being involved in North Dakota’s farm industry.

North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, a former Microsoft executive whose campaign received $100,000 from Microsoft co-founder Gates when Burgum first won in 2016, declined to comment on the farmland sale. The Republican governor stayed down the middle when asked his opinion of the anti-corporate farming law, which he and the Legislature expanded in 2019 to allow second cousins in the mix of ownership.

“The governor strongly supports family farms and is open to discussions about cutting red tape that puts North Dakota farmers at a disadvantage compared with neighboring states and ensuring that our ranchers and farmers can succeed and grow their operations, helping rural communities to thrive,” Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki said.

Gates is considered the largest private owner of farmland in the country with some 269,000 acres across dozens of states, according to last year’s edition of the Land Report 100, an annual survey of the nation’s largest landowners. He owns less than 1 percent of the nation’s total farmland.

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UK consumer spending softens, job ads fall in past week

UK consumer spending softens, job ads fall in past week 150 150 admin

LONDON (Reuters) – British consumers’ spending on credit and debit cards fell slightly over the past week and the number of job adverts declined, while restaurant bookings rose sharply, weekly data collated by the Office for National Statistics showed.

Credit and debit card spending – which is based on Bank of England CHAPS interbank payment flows, and is not seasonally or inflation adjusted – fell in all categories other than work-related spending, which includes commuting costs.

Overall spending in the week to June 16 was 2 percentage points lower than the week before and the same in cash terms as its level in February 2020, before the pandemic.

Restaurant reservations rose 20 percentage points in the week to June 19 after a 36 percentage-point fall the week before, while the number of jobs advertised by recruiters Adzuna fell by 5% in the week to June 17 to 123% of its pre-pandemic average.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by William Schomberg)

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Norway central bank makes largest rate hike in 20 years

Norway central bank makes largest rate hike in 20 years 150 150 admin

By Victoria Klesty

OSLO (Reuters) -Norway’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points on Thursday, its largest single hike since 2002 and twice as much as expected by most economists, and plans to hike again in August as the country seeks to control inflation.

Norges Bank’s monetary policy committee raised the sight deposit rate to 1.25% from 0.75%, exceeding its own forecast made in March of a hike to 1.0%.

“Based on the committee’s current assessment of the outlook and balance of risks, the policy rate will most likely be raised further to 1.5% in August,” Governor Ida Wolden Bache said in a statement.

“A faster rate rise now will reduce the risk of inflation remaining high and the need for a sharper tightening of monetary policy further out,” she added.

Of the 20 economists polled by Reuters in advance of Thursday’s announcement, 14 had predicted Norges Bank would hike by 25 basis points (bps) while six said a 50 bps increase to 1.25% was the most likely outcome.

The Norwegian currency, the crown, firmed to 10.48 against the euro at 0823 GMT from 10.51 just before the rate announcement.

The central bank predicted the policy rate could rise to 3% by mid-2023, having previously pointed to a rate of 2.5% by the end of that year.

“(This) underlines how stressed central banks are over inflation,” tweeted Torbjoern Isaksson, chief analyst at Nordea Markets in Sweden.

Norges Bank cut its growth forecast for the Norwegian mainland economy, which excludes oil and gas output, to 3.5% for 2022 from 4.1% seen in March.

It raised its core inflation forecast for 2022 to 3.2% from 2.5%, and lifted the prediction for 2023 to 3.3% from 2.4% seen three months ago.

The central bank targets core inflation of 2.0% over time.

Central banks globally are struggling to contain surging prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war, leading to a 75 basis point U.S. Federal Reserve rate rise last week, a surprise hike by the Swiss National Bank and new policy tools at the ECB.

(Reporting by Victoria Klesty, writing by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Kim Coghill)

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China’s CATL to produce next-generation EV battery in 2023

China’s CATL to produce next-generation EV battery in 2023 150 150 admin

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese battery giant CATL will start mass production next year of its latest generation product, with greater efficiency that lets electric cars drive longer distances on each charge, the company said on Thursday.

The world’s biggest battery maker is scrambling to retain its top position against competition from rivals such as BYD, which will soon start supplying batteries to Tesla.

CATL’s new battery, called Qilin, will boost volume utilisation rate to 72%, the world’s highest, versus 50% for its first generation launched in 2019, the firm said, and increase the battery system’s energy density to 255 Wh/kg.

But the firm did not say if any electric vehicle maker had placed orders for the new battery.

CATL, which supplies batteries supplier to automakers such as Tesla, Volkswagen, BMW and Nio suffered a fall of 24% in first-quarter net profit, hit by soaring metal costs.

In May, the company said it expected a better profit margin in the second quarter, after raising prices and passing on costs to automaking clients.

CATL sold the equivalent of 41.5 GWh of batteries in the first four months, more than double the sales of second-placed LG Energy Solution, Seoul-based SNE Research says.

As it ramps up overseas expansion, CATL is in the final stages of vetting sites in the United States to build electric vehicle batteries, Reuters has reported.

The firm, based in the city of Ningde in the southern province of Fujian, has said it would start supplying cylindrical cells to BMW from 2025 for a new series of electric vehicles.

Tesla is also ramping up output of its “4680” batteries that hold about five times the energy of the existing 2170 cells.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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