A global power battery leader from China, CATL, has postponed the US Battery Plant Plan; a rumored reason is the influence of ongoing tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
According to a public report, CATL (Chinese:宁德时代) will supply NEVs’ battery products for North America’s OEMs, such as BMW and Ford. And this plant plan is in the final stages of reviewing the plant selection process, with potential locations including Kentucky and South Carolina and a total investment of up to CNY 31.8 billion ($5 billion), targeting an annual production capacity of nearly 80 GWh and offering job positions of around 10,000 employees.
It is well-known that the U.S. NEVs’ battery market is the world's second-largest market, which is currently dominated by Japanese and Korean battery manufacturers. China’s leading NEVs' battery supplier CATL took a key step in its globalization process to further change the current competitive situation in the U.S. of the battery supply field in the future by establishing its first plant in the U.S.
As the previous plan, CATL would probably announce its plant solution result in the coming weeks. However, to prevent announcing the plan amid the current sensitive period in U.S.-China relations, CATL will probably make this announcement until September or October.