Tesla Battery Supplier CATL Gets Nod For Plant In Germany

China’s key battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) said on Wednesday it has secured the second partial approval for the commissioning of a new plant for battery cell production in Thuringia, Germany.

What Happened: This is CATL's first manufacturing plant outside of China where it will have an initial capacity of 8 GWh per year which will later be scaled to 14GWh.

Ningde, China-headquartered CATL said it is in the final stage and the installation of machines and expects the first cells to roll off the assembly lines by the end of 2022.

See Also: Tesla, Nio Supplier CATL Seeks To Raise $9B In Bid To Expand Lithium-Ion Battery Production

Why It Matters: CATL has been supplying batteries to Tesla Inc TSLA since 2020. The Elon Musk-led electric vehicle company has multiple partnerships to secure its battery needs including with Japan’s Panasonic and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.

Tesla last month opened its first gigafactory in Europe. The factory is located in Grünheide, a coal town in Brandenburg, Germany, and is expected to produce 500,000 electric vehicles a year.  

CATL’s facility in Thuringia is about 211 miles away from CATL’s Giga Berlin site.

The battery maker is a supplier to China’s Nio Inc NIO as well.

Price Action: Tesla stock closed 4.7% lower at $1,091.3 a share on Tuesday.

Photo: Courtesy of CATL.com