Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) announced that its €7.6 billion investment in Hungary to build a 100 gigawatt-hour battery plant in Debrecen, the second largest city, is advancing on schedule. The company announced the project in August 2022. Located in the city’s Southern Industrial Park, the plant will supply battery cells and modules to European EV makers. It will be CATL’s second battery factory in Europe after the one in the German city of Erfurt in Thuringia that went into production in December 2022. Noemi Sidlo, Communications Manager for CATL Hungary, said the main structure of the factory has been built. “Everything is on schedule and production is scheduled to start in 2025,” she said, adding that the factory will be equipped with CATL’s cutting-edge technology. CATL started its recruitment campaign in February with a focus on local hires. Of the more than 100 employees recruited so far, about 80% are local employees.
CATL is expected to become one of the biggest employers in the region once the plant is in full production. It is expected to hire 3,000 people by 2026 in the first phase of the project, but total employment could reach 8,000 or even 9,000 when all the three phases are completed, according to Balazs Szilagyi, Public Affairs Manager of CATL Hungary. He added that this will be a gradual process according to market demand. Sidlo said the recruitment is also a brand building campaign for CATL, as the company is integrating itself into the local community, such as by participating in local events. Sidlo said that local employees are quite good at helping the company tackle the strict rules and regulations in Hungary.
The factory in Hungary is part of CATL’s bid to build its global network as German car companies such as Mercedes Benz and BMW are switching to EV production and are going to be major clients for CATL. Jason Chen, CEO of CATL Europe, said at the Hungarian Battery Day event in October that CATL aims to build a complete European battery manufacturing value chain with a focus on sustainability. He said CATL is proud to have achieved carbon neutrality at four of its battery plants, which will also be the goal for the Debrecen factory. In January, the Hungarian government announced a USD2 billion infrastructure development project in Debrecen to help transform the city into one of Europe’s biggest EV battery production hubs, the China Daily reports.
