Battery giant CATL launches factory for millions of car batteries

ARNSTADT (dpa-AFX) – Short distances: until now, many battery cells for German e-cars have come by ship from China – now the Chinese battery giant CATL is also supplying its batteries from the middle of Germany. In Arnstadt, Thuringia, CATL started up its first factory in Europe on Thursday for up to 30 million battery cells annually. The Chinese group is considered one of the largest cell producers in the world. The factory marks its foray into Germany in the production of one of the most important components for electric vehicles. German automakers also have large-scale battery projects and plan to invest billions, but they are still far from commissioning. “Here we have a gigafactory the likes of which have not been seen in all of Western Europe,” said Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party). Experts also speak of a giant factory for lithium-ion cells…

Read more…