- The $2.1 billion plant is CALB's first overseas factory and is expected to start production in 2027.
- The plant will produce power and energy storage batteries for the global market, with a focus on European customers.
Chinese power battery maker CALB (HKG: 3931) has began construction of its battery plant in Portugal, its first overseas factory, as it begins its efforts to add capacity overseas.
The CALB plant, which broke ground on February 24, has a planned investment of about 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) and is expected to start production in 2027, according to a report in local media outlet Jiemian today.
The plant will produce power and energy storage batteries and will involve the production of battery cells, modules and battery packs for the global market and mainly for European customers, the report noted.
CALB said it has already received orders from a number of international customers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford and Audi, according to the report.
The first phase of the Portuguese plant has an annual capacity of 15 GWh, enough to power approximately 300,000 electric vehicles (EVs), assuming each vehicle carries a 50 kWh battery pack, the report noted.
The facility is located in the Portuguese city of Sines, and CALB has set up its first European battery plant there mainly because Portugal is friendly to China at the political level and has the largest lithium reserves in Europe and the eighth-largest in the world, Jiemian said.
Additionally, Portugal's power system makes heavy use of renewable energy, and the city's direct rail and port connections bring convenient transportation, the report said.
CALB announced on November 3, 2022, that it signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Portuguese government to build its first production site in Europe.
The company's battery project in Portugal was planned at an industrial zone near a port in Sines, which is located in the heart of European logistics, a CALB press release said at the time.
The port is Europe's second-largest deep-water port with 24-hour operations and the only port in Portugal that can dock the world's largest container freighters, according to the battery maker.
It also has Portugal's largest rail freight platform, operating more than 5,000 container trains a year to and from inland Europe, CALB said.
CALB is one of the world's largest battery makers, ranking fourth with 39.4 GWh of installed power batteries and a 4.4 percent global share in 2024, according to South Korean market researcher SNE Research.
The company installed 2.42 GWh of power batteries in China in January this year, placing it third with a 6.23 percent share behind CATL (SHE: 300750) at 47.08 percent and BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) at 22.90 percent.
CALB expected its net income in 2024 to be about RMB 786 million ($108 million) to RMB 874 million, up about 80 percent to 100 percent from RMB 437 million in 2023, according to a results announcement it made yesterday on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
($1 = RMB 7.2483, $1 = 0.9557 euro)
Chinese battery maker CALB previews doubling net income in 2024
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