Sichuan Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL-SC), a subsidiary of CATL, has announced that the first phase of its traction battery production project is now operational. In September 2019, CATL and the city government of Yibin signed contracts for the CATL-SC traction battery phase I to phase VI projects. A total investment exceeding ¥30bn (US$4.7bn) will be made, and the site is expected to cover around 1,214ha.
“The Yibin production base is an important part of CATL’s global layout, and it is being developed to become CATL’s most important traction battery production base with strategic significance in southwest China,” explained Robin Zeng, chairman of CATL. “Featuring higher efficiency, the Yibin production base will deliver supporting services to OEM partners not only in China but also around the world. CATL-SC is heading on the global stage.”
Yibin is situated in an area with good transport connections that will enable logistics efficiency and the delivery of traction batteries from the factory to the vehicle production lines in Chengdu or Chongqing in three hours. Rich water sources in the city will also aid in the reduction of carbon emissions when manufacturing the batteries, with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality over the entire lifecycle of the traction batteries.
Liu Zhongbo, secretary of the Yibin Municipal Party Committee, commented, “The launch of the first phase of the CATL-SC traction battery production base project marks CATL achieving another key milestone in developing CATL-SC as a world-class traction battery research and development and production base, and unveils a new stage in the effective coordinated development of Yibin’s new-energy automobile industry and traction battery industry.”
