What’s new: Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) (300750.SZ) has begun construction on a 32 billion yuan ($5 billion) facility in Yichang, Central China’s Hubei province that will produce materials for new-energy vehicle (NEV) batteries.
The production base, built by CATL’s subsidiary Guangdong Brunp Recycling Technology Co. Ltd., will cover approximately 3.7 million square meters and have an annual output of 360,000 tons of iron phosphate and 220,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate, among other components of lithium-ion batteries, according to an announcement (link in Chinese) made by CATL on Saturday.
“Once in full production, [the production base] can support the production of battery cathode materials for more than 4 million NEVs,” Fujian province-based CATL said.
The background: For the first 10 months of 2021, China’s NEV battery output increased by 250% from a year earlier to 159.8 gigawatt-hours (GWh), with installed volumes up by 168% to 107.5 GWh, according to the latest data (link in Chinese) provided by the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance.
CATL accounted for 50.7% of installed volumes with 54.48 GWh in the period, followed by BYD Co. Ltd. and China Lithium Battery Technology Co. Ltd. with 16.6% and 6% respectively, the data showed.
In October, CATL signed a four-year deal to provide Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc. with batteries for its electric delivery vans, adding to the Chinese firm’s growing list of global customers ranging from Tesla Inc. to Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co.
Contact reporter Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
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