00:00Germany has long been a pivotal force in the global car industry, renowned as the birthplace of the automobile.
00:08With the drive towards greener mobility, Germany wants to stay on track and wants more manufacturers to build factories and advance domestic electric vehicle production.
00:18China's CATL, the world's largest battery supplier, has set up shop in the German state of Thuringen.
00:25As a Chinese-based company, why did CATL decide to invest here in Germany?
00:31Yes, battery baking business is something that you do very close with your customers. It's an eye-to-eye thing.
00:39And it's important to have the short supply chains in the long term.
00:45We have had our first cooperation here in Germany starting in 2012.
00:51And then we decided to come here and start producing batteries in Germany and in Europe in 2018.
00:57Batteries account for around 40% of the price of an electric vehicle.
01:02Local production will cut costs and reduce transportation emissions. It also brings more jobs.
01:08So how has then the CATL factory here in Germany helped develop not only Germany's EV manufacturing industry, but also Europe's?
01:18Well, we're bringing a lot of new know-how here into the region.
01:22Battery manufacturing is still quite a new subject in Europe.
01:27And that also comes with some added benefits.
01:32We're also helping train people on the ground for future generations of battery production here on site.
01:38EV technology is key to the decarbonation of road transport.
01:42But with not enough European battery producers to satisfy demand, Germany and other EU countries appear to be open to Chinese investment.
01:51This plant aims to build hundreds of thousands of EV batteries for electric vehicles across the continent and beyond.
01:59Which will go to help the European Union's growing electric vehicle manufacturing industry,
02:04which has long relied on batteries from China that are now subject to EU tariffs.
02:10Many in Germany view these EU tariffs as detrimental.
02:14But some argue that the tariffs now incentivize more Chinese investment in building European production centers, like this one in Turingen.
02:23Natalie Carney, CGTN, Arnstadt, Turingen.
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