- The battery production base is being built in three phases, with the first phase of 60 GWh already in operation.
- The second and third phases of the project will go into operation later this year and next year, respectively.
CATL (SHE: 300750) has commenced production at a new battery manufacturing facility that is expected to serve customers in northern China more conveniently.
A new production base for energy storage and power batteries in Yanzhou district of Jining, Shandong province, recently went into operation, making it CATL's first in northern China and currently the largest battery base in the country in terms of planned capacity, according to a statement from the company on Saturday.
The battery production base is being built in three phases, with the first phase of the project, which is in operation, having a scale of 60 GWh, according to CATL.
The first phase of the project covers an area of 530,000 square meters, with a total construction area of 520,000 square meters, including factory buildings and living facilities.
The second and third phases of the project, which will go into operation later this year and next year, respectively, are expected to form a world-leading new energy battery cluster at the RMB 100 billion ($14 billion) level, CATL said.
CATL has signed cooperation framework agreements with a number of partners in Shandong, including building a zero-carbon city with Jining city and promoting the battery swap model with the Shandong Provincial Department of Transportation.
By the end of 2024, CATL had 13 battery production bases and six R&D centers around the world, according to a Hong Kong listing prospectus it filed earlier this month.
CATL, the world's largest power battery supplier, installed 84.9 GWh of EV batteries in January-March, up 40.2 percent from 60.6 GWh in the same period last year, according to data previously released by South Korean market researcher SNE Research.
The Chinese power battery giant continued to rank first in the world with a 38.3 percent share in the January-March period.
CATL ranked first in China in April with a 39.44 percent share of 21.20 GWh of power batteries installed, according to the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).
The battery giant just closed its Hong Kong share offering last week with an offer price of HK$263, the upper end of the range.
CATL's trading on the Hong Kong stock market will begin on May 20 under the ticker symbol 3750.
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