China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) has announced plans to invest EUR240m (US$282m) in a lithium-ion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Germany, as it looks to strengthen its presence in the European auto sector.
The company plans to make the investment in two stages, with an initial 14 gigawatt-hours of capacity to come on stream in 2021. The facility will be built in Erfurt, in the central German state of Thuringia, and is expected to employ 600 people.
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CATL chairman ZengYuqun said he expects the investment will bring it closer to its European clients, which include German carmakers BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen.
He added “we hope to bring the world’s most advanced battery technology to Germany and offer our European clients more timely and effective product solutions”.
CATL recently announced plans to build a new 24 gigawatt-hour battery plant at its home base in Ningdein China’s Fujian province, which would make it the largest global manufacturer of EV batteries ahead of Panasonic, LG Chem and BYD.
The company is now listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange following an initial public offering of 10% of its shares in June.
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By GlobalDataSee also: BMW places big battery order with Chinese firm
