CATL opens a new battery production line in Hungary

CATL, the world leader in battery production for electric vehicles, has begun assembling battery modules at its brand-new facility in the Hungarian town of Debrecen. In addition, the company expects to start cell production trials at this same plant shortly.

CATL announced the construction of this new production centre in August 2022 with the aim of manufacturing both cells and modules for the main European car brands. At that time, it confirmed a total investment of €7.34 billion, spread over several phases, and named Mercedes-Benz as its first major customer. It also mentioned BMW as a possible second partner, since the Bavarian firm was building a plant in the same city to produce the iX3 electric SUV, which is now already a reality. This is CATL’s second battery production plant in Europe, after the one in Arnstadt, Germany.

The Chinese manufacturer is opening in Debrecen a new building dedicated to the production of battery modules, with an annual capacity of 5 GWh. This figure would be enough to equip around 50,000 electric vehicles with large 100 kWh batteries, or 125 smaller vehicles, aimed mainly at urban use, with 40 kWh battery packs. For the time being, the cells used in these modules come temporarily from other plants in the group, since local cell production has not yet begun.

Without haste but without pause

According to the company, the construction of the cell production plant, whose initial capacity will be 40 GWh, has already been completed and the equipment is installed. Once the last outstanding permits are obtained, production trials will begin.

In any case, the current situation represents a delay compared with the initial plans, since last December the company expected to begin series production between March and April. Moving from trials to large-scale production also usually takes several weeks, so the project will end up accumulating several months of delay. In a later phase, CATL will expand the plant’s capacity to 100 GWh.

Finally, it should be noted that although these new facilities are an important step forward for CATL, the Chinese company has already been producing battery modules in Debrecen since autumn 2024 on two production lines in a rented building. So far it has produced 240,000 modules, enough to equip around 60,000 electric vehicles.