Reuters has just reported that China’s CATL factory caught fire. CATL in a statement said that only a “relatively small” number of products were affected by a fire at its battery factory in southeastern Fujian province and the impact on production and operations was expected to be limited.
CATL said there were no casualties in the incident, which occurred in the city of Ningde at noon on Sunday and was still under investigation, in a reply to Reuters.
“The product volume affected is relatively small, and the impact to CATL’s overall production operation is relatively small,” the company said.
CATL is the world’s largest battery maker and counts Tesla as its biggest client. It has been known for a high product reliability and production yield with its unique manufacturing techniques and management.
Meanwhile, CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.) 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 plant, which local media said is situated in one of CATL’s core battery production bases called “Z base”, is among the firm’s newer and more advanced production lines just 10 minutes away from its headquarters.
Local media reported that the fire was put out at 10:20 p.m.
Interestingly, did you know that CATL’s battery technology is also currently used by electric vehicle manufacturers in the overseas market and not just Chinese car manufacturers. CATL collaborates with companies including BMW, Daimler AG, Hyundai, Honda, PSA, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
In June, a fire at South Korean lithium battery maker Aricell’s plant killed 23 people, which police blamed on a rush to produce batteries to meet a deadline without addressing signs of quality failures.
