Friday, March 29, 2024

CATL’s first plant outside of China kicks off cell production

Contemporary Amperex Technology Thuringia (CATT), CATL’s first plant outside of China, has kicked off the serial production of lithium-ion battery cells in December as scheduled, marking another milestone on CATL’s global journey.

The first batch of lithium-ion battery cells rolled off the newly installed production line under the series condition in CATT’s G2 building. The installation and commissioning of the remaining lines are in full swing for the production ramp-up. The locally produced cells passed all tests that are required of CATL’s products globally, which proves CATL is capable of starting cell production and supplying cells to its European customers from its local plant.

“The production kickoff proves that we kept our promise to our customers as a reliable partner of the industry, and we stay committed to Europe’s e-mobility transition even under very challenging conditions like the pandemic,” said Matthias Zentgraf, CATL’s president for Europe. “We are working hard to ramp up production to full capacity, which is our top priority for the coming year.”

CATT received the permit for battery cell production from the state of Thuringia this April, which allows an initial capacity of 8 GWh per year. The plant has already started module production in its G1 building in the third quarter of 2021.

With a total investment of up to €1.8 billion ($1.914 billion), CATL plans to achieve a production capacity of 14GWh and create up to 2,000 new jobs in total within Germany in the future.