MAPPED: CATL’s global footprint as it expands in Europe
Stellantis and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co announced on Tuesday a 50-50 joint venture to build one of Europe’s largest electric vehicle battery factories in Spain.
The €4.1 billion euros ($4.33 billion) plant with a nameplate capacity of 50 GWh will be built in Zaragoza, the country’s fifth largest city, in northeastern Spain. Production at the LFP factory is targeted for end-2026.
According to sales weighted average battery capacity data of EVs sold in Europe in 2024 from the Adamas Intelligence EV Battery Intel Platform, the plant would be capable of supporting roughly 750,000 full electric vehicles annually.
From January through September this year, the combined battery capacity of EVs hitting European roads for the first time totaled 115.4 GWh, representing meagre year on year growth of just under 2%.
Spain abstain
By comparison, new EV owners in Spain steered 8% more power hours onto the country’s roads, affording the country a 3% share of the regional market year to date.
Spain abstained from voting on the EU’s tariffs on made-in-China EVs and Madrid has some generous incentives to lure EV industry players to their shores, which no doubt played a role in Beijing giving CATL the go-ahead to invest.
While Stellantis has been in the news for the wrong reasons heading into 2025 with the abrupt departure of the Italian-American automaker’s CEO, CATL is enjoying another banner year in 2024.
Commanding CATL
The combined battery capacity of all EVs sold globally is up 23% over the first nine months of 2024 to 590 GWh. Among cell suppliers, CATL commands 31% of the global market, outpacing global growth despite its already formidable size.
In China, CATL’s position is even more dominant with 43% of the power-hours installed in new EVs in the country this year created in the Fujian-based company’s factories. China represents more than three-quarters of the overall business CATL has done this year.
CATL’s first European battery plant (14 GWh nameplate) located in Germany went into operation two years ago and the company announced in November it will start producing cells at a 100GWh LFP facility in Hungary in 2025 as planned.
Concurrently, an LG Energy Solution plant with total capacity of around 39 GWh is set to produce its first LFP packs late next year in a deal with Ampere, French automaker Renault’s EV arm.
LFP in the USA
While LFP build-out in Europe is gathering pace, CATL – like the Chinese automakers it supplies – has run into barriers in the US, the world’s number two EV market.
CATL’s deal with Ford Motor Company for the construction of an LFP battery factory in Michigan is facing scrutiny for potentially not adhering to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that prohibits US government support for projects involving so-called foreign entities of concern.
Ford has structured the deal in such a way that the plant, set for production in 2026, licenses CATL’s technology with no direct investment by the Chinese firm, a strategy which GM and Tesla are reportedly also following to set up LFP-battery production inside the country, but no concrete deals have appeared so far.
In the US, CATL occupies fourth place among cell suppliers and most of the company’s cells deployed in the country can be found in the Tesla Model 3 – specifically, the LFP-powered version. CATL also equips, among others, some Nissan, Mercedes and BMW models sold in the US.
Shenzen Stock Exchange-listed CATL has a $164 billion market value, a 65% jump since the start of the year even before the Stellantis announcement – an indication that many investors have faith in the company’s ability to successfully expand beyond its highly competitive home base.
