China’s CATL will spend up to 29 billion yuan ($4.49 billion) to build or upgrade domestic factories to meet growing demand. This is in addition to Contemporary Amperex Technology 2020 plans to boost capacity at a cost of up to 65 billion yuan. CATL’s battery capacity was projected to triple to 336 gigawatt-hours in 2023 from 109-gigawatt hours in 2020, according to a January report by Chinese brokerage Shengang Securities. The latest investment plans will further increase production by about 58 gigawatt-hours.
CATL will open a 25 gigawatt-hour factory in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, using 12 billion yuan in investment. Another plant in Yibin, Sichuan Province will get a similar upgrade.
CATL signed an agreement with the Jiang’an county government in Sichuan province in China to build a new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials plant. The investment is $280 million and the plant should be completed within three years
The 121 GWh increase would be able to provide batteries for 1.5 to 2 million cars for 60 kWh to 80 kWh pack cars.
In 2025, 77 GWh Volkswagen is contracting for 77 GWh (6.5 percent of CATLs planned 1200 GWh in 2025). In 2020, VW’s share received 2.2 percent of 110 GWh (2.42 GWh).
CATL wants to increase its production capacity between 2020 and 2025 as follows:
110 GWh (2020), 230 GWh (2021), 380 GWh (2022), 540 GWh (2023), 830 GWh (2024) and 1,200 GWh (2025).
SOURCES- Electrive, Nikkei Asia, Inside EVS
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture,com
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