A factory of the Chinese group CATL, the global battery giant that equips many brands of electric vehicles, including Tesla, was the victim of a fire on Sunday in China, local authorities said.
“There are no reports of casualties at this time,” according to municipal authorities in Ningde, the city where the group is based in Fujian province (east).
Firefighters received an emergency call at 11:26 a.m. following a fire at a CATL production plant in Ningde. Emergency services were sent to the scene to fight the fire and organize the evacuation of people in this place of approximately 15,000 square meters, according to this press release published by the Dongqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone.
Videos posted by Chinese business media Cailianshe on the Weibo social network show a large white industrial building, part of which is on fire, with thick gray smoke rising rapidly into the sky. Photos posted by Internet users showed a relatively large fire.
Batteries that equip Mercedes, BMW, Tesla, etc.
Questioned about the incident, the CATL group sent the authorities’ press release to AFP. The nature of the products produced at the site affected by the fire was not immediately clear.
Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), founded in 2011, is the undisputed world champion in electric vehicle batteries. Its factories produce more than a third of the batteries sold worldwide and equip a multitude of manufacturers (Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Tesla, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, etc.).
Source: BFM TV
