On March 19, according to foreign media reports, CATL, the world's largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer, is considering building a $5 billion factory in North America to supply electric vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla nearby.

Foreign media quoted sources who reported that CATL is considering investing US$5 billion to build a factory in North America.

According to sources who knew about the matter but did not want to be named, CATL is considering building a factory in North America with a target annual production capacity of up to 80GWh, and the factory will eventually employ about 10,000 employees.

In the report, foreign media also mentioned that the executives of CATL had flown to Mexico for the meeting earlier this month, but they are also considering the location of the United States and Canada, and the final location of the factory will take into account factors such as labor supply and other factors. .

Regarding the consideration of building a factory in North America, foreign media said that a spokesman for CATL declined to comment, including an evaluation of investment plans and site selection.

In North America, there are many emerging car manufacturers such as Tesla and Rivian. Major car manufacturers such as General Motors and Ford are also vigorously developing electric vehicles. There is a strong demand for batteries at present and in the future. In the North American market with huge demand for batteries, the most well-known electric vehicle battery factory is Tesla and Panasonic's Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada.

It is worth noting that SK Innovation and Ford announced in January this year that they would invest $11.4 billion to build three battery factories and a factory for the production of F-series electric pickups in the United States. Stanton, Tennessee and Glendale, Kentucky will have one and one respectively. The two battery factories will have an annual production capacity of 129GWh after completion.

If CATL also builds an electric vehicle battery factory in North America with an annual production capacity of up to 80 GWh, as sources have disclosed, including Tesla’s existing factory and the factories planned by SK Innovation and Ford, North American electric vehicles will be built after the completion. The battery capacity will be very impressive.

In addition, according to sources, CATL is considering investing US$5 billion to build a factory in North America. The size of the investment is comparable to that of Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory plan, and higher than the average investment in SK Innovation and Ford’s battery factories in the United States. Their three battery factories in the United States have an average investment of about $2.9 billion each.