In the future, CATL' response time to serve European customers will be significantly reduced.
On October 20, Beijing time, the foundation of CATL ’battery factory near Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, was officially laid. The product is expected to achieve a battery capacity of 14GWh by 2022.
The project has a medium-term investment of 1.8 billion euros and plans to create up to 2,000 jobs locally. In June this year, Ningde Times announced that the investment in the Erfurt plant would be increased by 7.5 times instead of the originally planned 240 million euros.
Capacity layout, CATL European Plant
Wolfgang Tiefensee, Thuringia's economic minister, commented that the project is a very important industrial investment in Germany. The new base of Ningde Times is located in central Germany. Such a location is conducive to responding quickly to the needs of European customers. In addition, the move will also fill a gap in lithium-ion battery manufacturing for Germany.
In the past, in order to win this project, the State of Thuringia negotiated with the German government for a year and a half, and now the factory is successfully started, and they have also received corresponding returns. In the future, the corresponding benefit feedback will be even more impressive.
Matthias Zentgraf, co-president of Ningde Times Europe, said at the groundbreaking ceremony that this project is a combination of German industrial tradition and Ningde era innovative battery technology tradition, which will accelerate the electrification process of the European automotive industry.
According to German media reports, the new plant's production capacity will initially reach 14GWh and will reach 24GWh in the later expansion phase. Ningde Times will continue to increase base R & D, quality control and service investment in the future, and the two governments will also provide subsidies, although the final amount of support has not yet been confirmed at this stage.
According to a press release issued by the Thuringian Ministry of Economy, in order to bring production and operations back to normal as soon as possible, CATL also acquired a building complex from the bankrupt solar giant SolarWorld Industries GmbH. According to a purchasing list in April, the logistics, warehouse and administration of CATL Europe will be located near the future production plant.
At this stage, CATL hopes to use the on-site production hall to start production as soon as possible. The exact project nodes and details have yet to be confirmed, but it is clear that the first 200 jobs will be on track next year.
It is reported that the production area of the new production base actually covers an area of 70 hectares. Nearby residents revealed to German media that since June this year, CATL has been receiving the first employees of the new base on the scene. As of now, Ningde Times has partnerships with most European car manufacturers, including Renault, BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler, Volvo and Bosch are on the customer list.