Business · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
CATL Starts Trial Production at Debrecen Battery Cell Plant in Hungary
CATL began trial production at Debrecen plant on September 22, 2026 with two lines. Plant targets 100 GWh annual capacity and will be CATL's largest European base outside China.
Whether nickel-exposure suspension incidents are reported.
9 of 10 outlets skipped it: temporary suspension ordered due to nickel exposure safety concerns.
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SSource: CarNewsChina
“Earlier this year, the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office had ordered a temporary suspension of operations”Read the original ↗
SSource: PR Newswire
“CATL Debrecen continues cooperating and working closely with the government and the authorities”Read the original ↗
CarNewsChina adds nickel-exposure and suspension claims, while most outlets omit those safety-incident details.
Trial production begins
CATL began trial production of battery cells at its newly built Debrecen plant in Hungary on September 22, 2026, after the company said it had fulfilled all preconditions required to commence the trial run. CATL said the initial trial production covers the first two cell manufacturing lines, and the trial phase is intended to set up, optimise and validate the production equipment and manufacturing processes before series production begins. CATL said the Debrecen site received its occupancy permit in August 2026, and the company later completed the requirements under its Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) permit before trial operations started.
CATL said the Debrecen facility is expected to become its largest manufacturing site outside China once fully built out, with an annual capacity of 100 GWh. CATL said it has already been producing battery modules at the Debrecen site since autumn 2024, and it reported that 537,000 modules have been manufactured there to date.
Permits, inspections, and priorities
CATL said the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office carried out repeated inspections before the occupancy permit was issued, following previously identified deficiencies that had raised concerns among local residents. CATL said government representatives confirmed that the issues had since been resolved, and CATL described the trial phase as a step toward full-scale battery cell manufacturing in Hungary. CATL said it would continue working closely with the Hungarian government and local authorities throughout the trial period, with particular attention to environmental protection, employee health and workplace safety.
CATL said it would monitor environmental, occupational health and safety indicators during trial operations and proactively submit the results to regulators. CATL said it remains committed to transparency and welcomes inspections by government and regulatory authorities at the Debrecen site.
What the expansion targets
CATL said the Debrecen plant is intended primarily to supply European automakers, and the company described the facility as a strategic hub within Hungary’s automotive and electric mobility manufacturing network. CATL said the transition to cell production adds another manufacturing stage after module production began in autumn 2024, and the company said the Debrecen site is expected to become its largest manufacturing base outside China with a capacity of 100 GWh. CATL said it announced the Debrecen project in August 2022 as its second European battery plant after its facility in Germany, and it said construction of the first cell manufacturing building began in summer 2023.
CarNewsChina said Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office ordered a temporary suspension of operations in certain areas of the plant earlier this year due to occupational safety concerns regarding nickel exposure, and it said the incidents affected nine employees. CarNewsChina said Hungarian authorities confirmed that CATL had resolved all previously identified deficiencies, allowing the project to proceed to trial production.