Camel Group Co., Ltd. Business Report FY ended Dec. 2022

Financial Overview

(CNY millions)

	FY ended Dec. 31, 2022	FY ended Dec. 31, 2021	Rate of Change (%)	Factors
Sales	13,425.36	12,403.45	8.24	-Production and sales volume in the Chinese commercial vehicle market in 2022 decreased, and the company's supply of products was affected.
Operating income	483.87	926.97	(47.80)
Ordinary income	477.08	922.10	(48.26)
Net income	455.96	847.36	(46.19)

Order

-Camel Group announced that Camel Group Battery Trading Co., Ltd., its wholly-owned subsidiary, has been designated by BMW Brilliance for the company’s lead-acid product projects from 2025 to 2028 to become an official supplier of 12V lead-acid products to the company. (From a Camel Group official website press release dated January 11, 2023)

-In 2022, the Company won 62 new projects, including new projects from SAIC Volkswagen, FAW Hongqi, Dongfeng Nissan, Changan Automobile, Sinotruk and Geely. In addition to winning orders from companies such as BMW Brilliance and Scania, the company has also won a global project for the Honda BEV platform.

1.Low-voltage lead-acid battery business for automobiles
-In 2022, the company's cumulative annual sales volume of automotive low-voltage lead-acid batteries increased by 2.16% year-over-year (y/y) to 32.21 million kVAh. The company received 12 new orders for auxiliary lead-acid battery projects for New Energy Vehicles. It mainly includes the electric vehicle auxiliary battery projects of automobile companies such as New Energy Vehicle Division of SAIC Motor, BYD, Changan Automobile, and GAC AION, and the low-voltage battery projects of NEV manufacturers such as Hycan.

2.Low-voltage lithium battery business for automobiles
-Orders for 12V lithium batteries have been received from Chery, Dongfeng, Geely and two emerging Chinese domestic NEV manufacturers.

-24V lithium battery project orders were received from Beiqi Foton/Daimler, Zeron smart truck, Hualing Auto, Yutong Bus, DFSK, and European OEMs.

-Regarding the 48V lithium battery, the Company was awarded Volkswagen's 48V and 12V dual power supply system project.

Automobile related business

1. Low-voltage lead-acid battery business for automobiles
-In 2022, the company promoted the development of AGM/EFB (absorbent glass mat / enhanced flooded batteries) idling stop/stop batteries, parking air conditioner batteries, auxiliary batteries for NEVs, etc. EFB products obtained German Volkswagen BMG approval; AGM battery products completed technical approval for BMW H4/H6/H7/H8 models; LN2 battery development obtained Japanese HGT technical approval.

2.Low-voltage lithium battery business for automobiles
-In 2022, the company completed the development of 12V vertical and horizontal platform products and MOS/Relay BMS platform products; completed the development of 24V platform commercial vehicle starter batteries and auxiliary batteries products; developed nation-wide and southern versions of parking air conditioner products; jointly developed 48V platform 48V and 12V dual power supply system with SAIC Volkswagen.

3.Battery recycling business
-In 2022, the company's recycling and processing capacity for waste lead-acid batteries reached 860,000 tons per year. The first phase of the waste lithium battery recycling project has passed the inspection, and the construction of the second phase has begun.

New projects

Battery plant in the Xiangyang Hi-Tech Development Zone
-Camel Group announced that it plans to build a battery plant in the Xiangyang Hi-Tech Development Zone, Hubei Province, annually producing 12 million units of low-voltage lithium batteries and 10GWh of energy storage lithium batteries. Construction will be completed in two phases. Camel Group plans to invest CNY 3.3 billion in the first phase to build a plant with an annual production capacity of 4 million units of low-voltage lithium batteries and 2GWh of energy storage lithium batteries, covering an area of around 187,000 square meters. The initial planned investment for the second phase is CNY 3.5 billion on construction to expand annual production capacity to 8 million units of low-voltage lithium batteries and 8GWh of energy storage lithium batteries, on a site covering an area of around 167,000 square meters. (From a press release dated March 1, 2023)

Battery plant for NEVs in North America
-Camel Group announced that its subsidiary, Camel Energy Inc., broke ground on a battery plant in North America. The name of the plant is Camel Energy Manufacturing Michigan. Based in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, the facility will cover a total area of 160,000 square meters and involve an investment of more than USD 20 million. The plant is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in the first quarter of 2023. When the plant is up and running, it will be able to produce 2 million advanced automotive batteries per year. These batteries will be installed in 2024 model year xEVs. (From a press release dated August 17, 2022)

R&D expenditure

(CNY millions)

	FY ended Dec. 31, 2022	FY ended Dec. 31, 2021	FY ended Dec. 31, 2020
R&D expenditure	528.47	491.49	390.51
Ratio of R&D expenses to sales (%)	3.94	3.96	4.05

-As of the end of 2022, the company had 1,054 R&D staff, accounting for 14.90% of the total number of employees.

R&D Structure

Name	Main business	Location	Year established	Percentage of voting rights held
Camel Group Battery Research Institute Co., Ltd. (formerly Hubei Camel Storage Battery Research Institute Co., Ltd.)	Development and production of technology for new energy-powered lithium-ion batteries, etc.	Xiangyang, Hubei	2004	100%
Camel Group Wuhan Optics Valley R&D Center Co., Ltd.	R&D, prototype production of lithium batteries, fuel cells, new batteries, materials and energy storage-batteries	Wuhan, Hubei	2016	100%
Camel Energy Inc.	Advanced batteries, materials, power systems	Michigan, America	2016	100%

Patent

-The Company applied for 149 patents and obtained 167 patents for lead-acid batteries. As of the end of 2022, it holds a cumulative total of 739 patents.

-The Company applied for 193 patents and obtained 102 patents for lithium batteries. As of the end of 2022, the company holds 296 patents.