They didn't invent LiPo (and you probably don't want those in a car), nor did they invent LFP (LiFePO4) but they did license it when no one else wanted to and turned it into probably the best EV battery tech you can buy today. They didn't innovate a ton on the chemistry but they did on the packaging side, BYD and CATLs structural pack designs exploit the low thermal runaway characteristics in a way that wouldn't be safe for NMC etc to reach near parity on density but with better longevity and cost.

They will be the first to sodium ion and solid state though.

It's kind of ironic that BMW pushed CATL into the EV market [1].

[1] https://cleantechnica.com/2022/06/30/how-herbert-diess-zeng-...