CATL held a commanding lead in the EV battery market last year, accounting for over a third of global usage. The world’s largest EV battery maker expects to announce another big partnership for a new EV plant in Europe by the end of 2025. The new facility will be separate from the one announced last month with Stellantis. Here’s what we know so far.
CATL to reveal fourth EV battery plant in Europe in 2025
At the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, CATL’s co-chairman, Pan Jian, said the company expects to partner with another automaker in Europe to open a new joint venture battery plant.
According to local media Jiemian, the new facility will be in addition to the one announced in December with Stellantis.
CATL already has two EV battery plants in Europe, one in Germany and the other in Hungary. Last month, it announced its third through a new partnership with Jeep maker Stellantis. The facility will produce LFP batteries for Stellantis in Spain.
Production is expected to start by the end of 2026 and have an annual capacity of up to 50 GWh. Stellantis and CATL will invest up to €4.1 billion, or around $4.25 billion, to build the large-scale European LFP battery plant.
CATL is already dominating the global EV battery market. According to SNE Research, CATL accounted for 36.8% of the market through November 2024. Despite more competition, CATL is still growing. Through November 2023, CATL accounted for 36.2% of the market.
China’s BYD was second, with a 17.1% share, up from 15.9% the previous year. BYD is also aggressively expanding in Europe with new EVs tailored for local buyers.
Meanwhile, CATL continues to launch advanced new products to maintain growth in 2025. It launched its new CATL Bedrock Chassis in late December, deeming it “the world’s first ultra-safe” EV skateboard chassis.
It’s also planning to rapidly expand its EV battery swap network. CATL’s new Choco-SEB batteries can be swapped within 100 seconds, even quicker than filling a gas tank.
Source: Jiemian, CnEVPost
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