CATL to Invest $2B in New Energy Battery Project
Chinese battery giant CATL announced on July 21 that it plans to invest in the construction of a new energy battery base in Shandong Province’s Jining, with a maximum total investment of 14 billion yuan ($2.07 billion).
The project involves setting up a production line for power battery systems and energy storage systems. It is estimated that each phase will not exceed 24 months from the start of construction, and the planned land area of the project is about 2,000 mu (329 acres).
CATL said in the announcement that the project is intended to further promote business development and meet market demand, as the new energy industry in China and abroad develops rapidly and the markets for power batteries and energy storage continue to grow.
In recent years, the new energy market has developed rapidly, and the production capacity of CATL has doubled. In 2021, the annual battery production capacity of CATL increased from 69.10 GWh in 2020 to 170.39 GWh. The company has also set up production bases in Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province, Yichun in Jiangxi Province and Guiyang in Guizhou Province to meet market demand.
In 2021, CATL achieved a total operating income of 130.36 billion yuan ($19.26 billion), a year-on-year increase of 159%. The net profit was 15.93 billion yuan ($2.35 billion), a year-on-year increase of 185%. During the period, the company achieved sales of lithium-ion batteries of 133.41 GWh, up 185% year-on-year, among which sales of power battery systems of 116.71 GWh, up 163% year-on-year.
The energy storage system sector involved in this 14 billion investment project is also one of the sectors with the fastest growth for CATL. In 2021, the sales revenue of CATL’s energy storage systems was 13.62 billion yuan ($2.01 billion), a year-on-year increase of 601.01%.
With the rapid expansion of production capacity, upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain have also joined hands with the company to produce batteries. Ford Motor Company and CATL reached a strategic cooperation agreement on global power battery supply on July 21. From next year, Mustang Mach-E in the North American market will add a lithium iron phosphate battery pack version, and from 2024, the F-150 Lightning pure electric pickup truck in North America will also be equipped with the lithium iron phosphate battery pack version – all of which are provided by CATL.
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