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Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), China's largest automotive lithium-ion battery maker, received Volkswagen battery cell test lab certification on June 1, making it the first battery manufacturer in the world to receive this certification.

This recognition of CATL's testing and verification capabilities by a leading international automotive company deepens its cooperation with Volkswagen, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Volkswagen's optimization recommendations for battery design, based on its deep understanding of vehicle manufacturing, help improve the safety and reliability of battery products, CATL said.

As a leading lithium-ion battery R&D and manufacturing company, CATL also helps Volkswagen improve its testing standards system and develop more competitive new energy models with its in-depth understanding of power battery characteristics, the statement said.

CATL also has its own battery cell testing laboratory, with a total investment of RMB 2 billion ($313 million) and more than 500 professionals in its own testing and validation center.

The center has a comprehensive power battery testing and verification capability, capable of conducting more than 300 tests on battery raw materials, cells, modules, packs, battery management systems and other test objects.

The CATL Test and Verification Center is the first test center in China's lithium-ion battery industry to have the ability to conduct indoor fire testing at the vehicle level.

Since 2014, CATL and Volkswagen have been cooperating deeply in the fields of MEB, MQB high-voltage platform and 12V and 48V low-voltage battery systems, and all products have been mass-produced.

CATL was founded in 2011 and focuses on the research, development, production and sales of new energy vehicle power battery systems and energy storage systems.

Market research firm SNE Research said on Tuesday that global electric vehicle battery sales in January-April were 65.9 GWh, up 146 percent from 26.8 GWh in the same period last year. Among them, CATL's sales almost quadrupled to 21.4 GWh.

This further strengthens CATL's position as the world's largest EV battery maker, giving it a 32.5 percent market share, 10 percentage points higher than second-place LG Energy Solution's 21.5 percent, which sold 14.2 GWh in the January-April period.