CATL Gives Update on New Plant in Hungary At Munich Car Show 2025

After several postponements, CATL believes that its gigafactory in Debrecen in eastern Hungary will come online in 2026. At the Munich Car Show, CATL GM for Europe, Matt Shen, told reporters that the new Hungarian plant is expected to become operational at the end of 2025 or the start of 2026. The first phase will aim for an initial capacity of about 30 to 40 GWh, depending on market conditions.

The Debrecen Gigafactory Project was announced back in 2022, and the cost was estimated at around USD 8 billion. The Debrecen plant is the second European battery factory by CATL and it will dwarf the first CATL plant in Turingia, Germany. The new Hungarian plant is designed for a capacity of 100 GWh, compared to just 15 GWh for the German plant. The Hungarian site will employ 9,000 people, while the employee count in Germany is only 2,000.

In 2024, CATL signed an agreement with the Debrecen Vocational Training Center, the University of Debrecen, and the University of Miskolc to train the workforce and provide a talent pipeline for the new plant.

CATL Hungary is positioned to supply Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes. The Chinese battery giant prefers Hungary as its cost structure is lower than Germany, while offering all the advantages of being in the European Union. Another plant is Spain is also in the pipeline targeting Stellantis.