CATL builds second European plant in Hungary

On August 12, CATL officially announced the construction of a battery plant in the eastern city of Debrecen, Hungary, with a planned capacity of 100 GWh and an investment of 7.34 billion Euros. This is CATL's second factory in Europe after the one in Germany. After approval by the shareholders' meeting and other procedures, groundbreaking for the first building will take place during the year.

Located in the industrial park in southern Debrecen, the 221-hectare project will produce cells and modules for European automakers.

The city of Debrecen, Hungary is located in the heart of Europe, and CATL's Debrecen plant is close to the vehicle plants of customers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Stellantis and Volkswagen, which will help CATL to better respond to the needs of the European market, further improve its global strategic layout and accelerate the electrification and energy transition in Europe.

CATL will fulfill its commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of battery manufacturing by using large amounts of renewable energy to generate electricity and actively discussing with local partners to jointly develop solar energy projects.

CATL will also explore with local partners the possibility of establishing a battery materials factory to promote a recyclable and sustainable battery value chain.

"There is no doubt that the Debrecen plant will further enhance our competitiveness and help us better respond to the needs of our European customers, thereby accelerating the transition to electrification in Europe," said Dr. Zeng Yuqun, CATL's Founder and Chairman, "This greenfield investment by CATL in Hungary will be a a big step for the company to improve its global strategic layout and an important step for us to make a remarkable contribution to the cause of new energy for humanity."

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economy of Hungary, said, "The global and European economies are facing great challenges these days. We in Hungary have a clear goal of maintaining strong growth against the backdrop of the recession in continental Europe. The best way to achieve this goal is to attract high-end investment in electric vehicles, the most revolutionary sector of the automotive industry. We are proud that CATL has brought the largest greenfield investment ever in Hungary. Hungary has recently become one of the world's leading battery manufacturing hubs and this massive investment further strengthens our position."

CATL's Hungarian plant has been appreciated and welcomed by many European customers. Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Chief Technology Officer for Research and Development and Purchasing, said, "CATL's new state-of-the-art European plant in Hungary is another milestone in the expansion of our electric vehicle production with our core partners.

As an industry technology leader and our partner, CATL will respond to our localized sourcing strategy by providing high-performance, carbon-neutral battery cells for our next generation of electric vehicles produced in Europe. Mercedes-Benz has also become the first and largest customer for the new plant at initial capacity. We are also excited about CATL Hungary's commitment to carbon neutral production, which will also help us achieve our 'Vision 2039' goals."