The Chinese manufacturer CATL of batteries for electric cars does not rule out the opening of a third factory in Europe. The company is working to consolidate its leadership position and improving its production capacity in the European territory is key. The increase in demand for electric cars will also be decisive.
CATL, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric car batteries, is determined to consolidate its position in Europe. The Old Continent is called to play a leading role in the transition process to electric cars. And batteries are the key component to materialize the roadmap that has been established by the European automotive industry.
At the moment the Chinese company is considering and studying the possibility of start up a third battery factory in Europe. This has been confirmed by Matthias Zentgraf himself, President of CATL in Europe. The top leader of the battery manufacturer makes it clear that a decision has not yet been made in this regard, but the option is on the table: “We are thinking about this, but there is currently no clear decision or activity.”
CATL studies launching a third battery factory in Europe
Recently it was revealed CATL plans to establish a second battery factory in Europe. More concretely in Debrecen (Hungary). A project that will be carried out together with the Mercedes-Benz Group and to which an investment of 7,300 million euros will be allocated. These facilities will have a planned production capacity of 100 GWh and in addition to supplying the Mercedes-Benz Group, they will also supply batteries to the Volkswagen Group, BMW Group and Stellantis.
CATL hopes that it will be in a position to start the activity within a period of five years. “We will not build a third plant if there are no prospects for the volume of demand,” said Zentgraf. Therefore, the launch of a third factory in Europe will depend on the growth of electric car sales for the next few years.
The company has already established battery production centers in China and, through subsidiary companies, in the United States, Japan and Europe. It is currently working at full capacity in two Chinese facilities located in the provinces of Shandong and Fujian, for which it is allocating approximately 3,700 million euros.
Rising energy costs in Europe mark the future CATL
It has also recently become known that the company is looking for new locations in Mexico and the United States with the aim of building new factories that will allow it to supply Tesla, Ford and other electric car manufacturers. However, and curiously, Zentgraf has not wanted to clarify if any of its European production centers will be used to supply batteries to the Tesla Gigafactory in Germany.
If all goes according to plan, CATL will be able to start battery production at its factory in Erfurt (Germany) at the end of this year. The company is expectant about what will happen next winter. The rising cost of energy and the fear of a gas shortage in German territory will mark its future in Europe.
“We are affected by the shortage of natural gas, which is very important for the battery cell production process because we need a lot of energy,” Zentgraf said. Natural gas currently represents approximately 50% of the energy needs of the CATL plant in Germany. The company will seek to give prominence to renewable energies: «We are working intensely on substitutions for this. We already have a very, very promising idea to replace natural gas to buy renewables.”
Font: autonews