By Michael Elkins
Chinese battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) (SZ:300750), announced Friday that the company would be investing 7.34 billion euros to build a 100 GWh battery plant in Debrecen of east Hungary. The new plant would be CATL’s second battery plant in Europe following its German plant. With a planned capacity of 100GWh a year, the plant would be the largest “gigafactory” in Europe.
Once completed, the plant will cover an area of 221 hectares in the Southern Industrial Park of Debrecen, and supply both cells and modules to European markets. Debrecen is located at the heart of Europe, and with proximity to some auto plants of CATL customers such as Mercedes Benz (OTC:DDAIF), BMW (OTC:BMWYY), Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) and Volkswagen (OTC:VLKAF).
CATL is also examining the possibility of joining forces with local partners to establish facilities for battery materials in Europe in the hopes to build a sustainable and circular battery value chain.
"There is no doubt that our plant in Debrecen will enable us to further sharpen our competitive edge, better respond to our European customers, and accelerate the transition to e-mobility in Europe," said Dr. Robin Zeng, founder and Chairman of CATL. "The greenfield project in Hungary will be a giant leap in CATL's global expansion, and also an important step in our efforts to make an outstanding contribution to the green energy drive for humankind."
Hungarian foreign affairs and trade minister Péter Szijjártó welcomed the development and said it would be “the biggest-ever greenfield investment in the history of Hungary."
It is also Hungary’s largest-ever single foreign investment and will create 9,000 jobs.
Subject to the shareholder meeting approval, construction of the first production facilities will start within this year.