CATL opens flagship stores for its service brand Ning in Shanghai and Bangkok
The new Experience Centre in Bangkok, with an area of over 2,000 square metres, is also the first Ning location outside of China to be operated by CATL itself. In total, Ning Service is already active in 75 countries, operates over 1,100 service centres (often with partners) and manages 67 spare parts warehouses with a total area of over 370,000 square metres.
Ning Service emerged from the CATL service department, founded in 2015, which was officially expanded into its own brand in 2024. At that time, the first flagship store called Ning Space was also opened in Chengdu, and the Ning service brand was introduced. Today, including the new location in Shanghai, there are already seven flagship stores in China, including in Wuhan and Guangzhou, as well as the new flagship store in Thailand.
“As the global energy structure transition accelerates, China’s new energy industry has entered a critical turning point for large-scale development. In NEV industry, existing service systems struggle to meet new demands such as testing of the battery system, electric drive and power electronics, as well as the battery health assessment. As a pioneer in the field of new energy services, NING Service always places customer needs at the forefront, driven by technological innovation and aiming for win-win cooperation to promote high-quality development in the new energy aftermarket,” said Li Wei, President of CATL’s Aftermarket Business Department.
The Ning service offers self-developed service systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, energy storage product lines and six other application scenarios. Ning Service aims to rectify general faults in the battery system within eight hours and complex faults within 72 hours.
The Ning Service aims to resolve the industry’s previous ‘replace completely, don’t repair’ dilemma. This is because when battery packs in electric cars are damaged, for example, in rear-end collisions, serious damage often occurs, which usually requires a complete battery pack replacement. This is, of course, associated with high costs.
Repair service for battery packs
Ning Service has therefore introduced a repair service for CTP battery packs (stands for Cell to Pack): Using original CATL components, the service strictly adheres to ‘CATL’s technical standards and quality requirements’ and offers official warranty services for safe and reliable repairs. The repair service is significantly cheaper than a complete battery pack replacement, the company emphasises.
The Ning service also uses a self-developed testing device that uses ultrasound technology to detect the source of a fault in a battery pack within 15 minutes, with an accuracy of over 90 per cent. One thing is clear: the fact that the battery does not have to be dismantled for troubleshooting means that consequential damage that can be caused by disassembly and inspection can be avoided.
However, the Ning service not only helps with damage but also offers a battery condition assessment. This enables electric car drivers to recognise risks at an early stage, increase the range with countermeasures and increase the residual value of their vehicle for the used car market.
Ning Service has also set up a recycling network in China and is working with CATL’s recycling subsidiary Brunp, which is already cooperating with Mercedes as well as Volvo, BMW, FAW-Volkswagen and GAC-Toyota. The recovered batteries are subjected to strict testing and classification and then individually processed depending on their condition and performance: They are repaired and reconditioned, put to second-life use, such as stationary storage systems, or dismantled into reusable raw materials.
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