Tesla supplier CATL had a fire at its battery factory, says impact on production is minimal

CATL, the world’s largest battery supplier for electric vehicles and one of Tesla’s critical suppliers, had an important fire that raged for hours at one of its main Chinese battery factory.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) has emerged as the world’s largest battery cell supplier in the auto industry in the last few years, and it is not even close.

The company is also credited as being an important part of the success of Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai, which it supplies with LFP battery cells. Gigafactory Shanghai is Tesla’s highest-production EV plant.

It’s why many in the industry were concerned when they learned that CATL had an important fire at its Z plant in Ningde, Fujian province, China.

The fire broke out at the plant yesterday and it was reportedly large enough that it took hours to control it:

Fortunately, no casualties have been reported. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The company commented that it expects the impact on production is going to be “small”.

Electrek’s Take

If true, that should be a relief for the auto industry, which relies heavily on CATL.

CATL’s battery production capacity reached 259.7 GWh last year – more than a third of the entire world EV battery production capacity.

Any disruption in their operations would have the potential to have a significant impact on the industry, especially Chinese automakers.