CATL invests 7.4 billion to expand power and energy storage battery projects

On the evening of November 28, CATL announced that the company plans to invest in the construction of a power and energy storage lithium battery research and production project (Phase III) in Liyang, Jiangsu through its wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangsu Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. The total investment in the project is planned to be no more than 7.4 billion yuan.

According to the plan, the project will build a power and energy storage lithium battery production line, mainly including factory buildings and supporting facilities as well as process equipment investment, covering an area of ​​510 acres and a construction period of 24 months.

CATL said that with the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market at home and abroad and the rise of the energy storage industry, the market demand for the power battery industry will continue to grow in the next few years. The implementation of this project will further expand the company's production capacity, which will help improve the company's economic benefits and enhance the company's core competitiveness.

As a high-quality power battery supplier, CATL has been favored by many bus and passenger car companies, and is in short supply.

Data from Gaogong Industry Research Institute of Lithium Battery (GGII) show that from January to October 2018, CATL's total installed capacity of power batteries was 14.3GWh, accounting for 41.2% of the total installed capacity, and its shipments ranked first in the country.

At the recent Guangzhou Auto Show, more than 40 new energy vehicle models from 23 passenger car brands were equipped with CATL batteries, including BMW, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Beijing Hyundai, Geely, Changan, SAIC Roewe, SAIC-GM-Wuling, SAIC Volkswagen Tiguan, Chery New Energy, GAC New Energy, BAIC New Energy, China FAW, Dongfeng Nissan, etc.

As the production of new energy vehicles for the company's existing customers continues to expand and new customers continue to be developed, CATL has previously publicly stated that the company's current production capacity is far from meeting future market demand for the company's products and that production capacity needs to be further improved.

It is understood that the "CATL Huxi Lithium-ion Power Battery Production Base Project" with a production capacity of 24GWh, which is a project raised through the IPO of CATL, is also being implemented at an accelerated pace.

It is worth mentioning that in order to plan a new round of expansion, on the same day, CATL issued an announcement stating that the company and its subsidiaries intend to apply to banks for a total comprehensive credit line of no more than 110 billion yuan.

The announcement shows that the validity period of the application for comprehensive credit line from the bank is from January 1, 2019 to the date of the 2019 annual shareholders' meeting. During the credit period, the credit line can be used in a circular manner. The forms and uses of credit include but are not limited to working capital loans, fixed asset loans, project loans, acceptance bills, guarantees, letters of credit, *** discounts, financial derivatives and other comprehensive businesses.