CATL has started series production of battery cells in Germany as planned. At the plant in Arnstadt, the first batch of battery cells ran under series conditions from the newly installed production line in building G2.
In spring, CATL announced the start of cell series production in its first plant outside China for the second half of 2022. Shortly before the end of the year, the company has now made an official announcement. While the first batch of cells at the Arnstadt site has now been manufactured in the 360,000-square-metre building G2, the Chinese manufacturer had already started producing battery modules in the neighbouring 210,000-square-metre building G1 in the third quarter of 2021.
CATL also reports that the installation and commissioning of the remaining lines is underway. The group is aiming for an initial capacity of 8 GWh per year. This was approved by the state of Thuringia for the site in April. With a total investment of up to 1.8 billion euros, CATL plans to reach a production capacity of 14 GWh “in the future” and create a total of up to 2,000 new jobs in Germany, according to current information.
“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,” expressed 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.”
The groundbreaking ceremony took place back in October 2019, with the completion of the first phase of construction announced at the time for early 2022. As early as April, 500 people from the region around Erfurt are said to have been employed by CATL. In addition, there are several hundred specialists from China who are supporting the installation of the production facilities and the start-up phase of manufacturing, but who are not staying permanently.