Chinese EV battery producers race ahead of assemblers with plans to build plants overseas as Beijing pushes industry forward
- The battery makers are set to race ahead of Chinese EV assemblers to internationalise their businesses
- CATL said earlier this month that it would start building a US$7.35 billion plant in the Hungarian city of Debrecen within this year
A clutch of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery producers led by industry bellwether Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) are doubling down on overseas expansion plans, building more plants in Europe and the US.
“EV battery firms in China are world leaders now, and they have heightened hopes of the domestic carmaking industry that the country can gain ascendancy in the production of battery-powered vehicles,” said Davis Zhang, a senior executive at Suzhou Hazardtex, an energy solutions provider that supplies specialised vehicle batteries. “They will play a pioneering role in the go-global drive by China’s EV industry.”
CATL, based in Ningde, southeastern Fujian province, announced earlier this month that it would start building a US$7.35 billion plant in the Hungarian city of Debrecen within this year, which will have a capacity of 100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) when complete in 2027.
Its founder and chairman Robin Zeng said construction of the factory, its second outside mainland China, was a major step for CATL in reinforcing its global strategy. The world’s largest EV battery producer with a market share of about 35 per cent, is expected to start production at its first overseas plant in Thuringia, Germany at the end of this year.