Mercedes Benz becomes first partner of CATL's new Hungary battery plant

Reuters
Updated ·1 min read
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FILE PHOTO: Bangkok International Motor Show

BERLIN (Reuters) -Mercedes-Benz is the first carmaker to receive cells from a new 7.34 billion euro ($7.56 billion) battery factory China's CATL plans to build in Hungary, it said on Friday, adding this marked the highest initial order volume for the site.

Mercedes-Benz said the agreement marked the next milestone towards its goal of reaching battery production capacity of more than 200 gigawatt hours (GWh) at eight global production sites by the end of the decade.

The plant, announced by China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) earlier on Friday, would provide battery cells for the next generation Mercedes-Benz models.

"With CATL we have a technology-leader as our partner to provide us – as the first and biggest customer of the new plant's initial capacity – with top-notch CO2 neutral battery cells for our next generation EVs in Europe," Mercedes-Benz management board member Markus Schaefer said.

($1 = 0.9706 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Rachel More)