CATL, the Chinese company that makes more electric car batteries than anyone else, has started trial production of battery cells at its new factory in Debrecen, Hungary. The company says trial runs began on 22 September 2026 on the first two cell production lines.
What has started
Trial production is the stage before full series production. CATL says it is using it to set up, fine-tune and validate equipment and processes. It has not given a date for series production.
When all of its buildings are ready, Debrecen is planned to have a capacity of 100 GWh a year, which would make it CATL’s largest manufacturing base outside China. CATL described it in 2022 as its second European battery plant, after its site in Germany. Battery modules, which are assembled from cells, have been made in Debrecen since autumn 2024, and CATL says 537,000 have been produced so far.
The plant is intended to supply European carmakers that have built electric car production in Hungary. Caixin Global names Mercedes-Benz and BMW as the customers it is designed to serve.
A delayed start
CATL announced the project in August 2022 and began building the first cell building in summer 2023. Equipment installation was finished in spring 2026. According to CnEVPost, CATL’s European management had said in September 2025 that it was aiming to start production in late 2025 or early 2026, so the trial start is later than planned.
The final stage of permitting was not smooth. Earlier in 2026 the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office ordered parts of the plant to suspend operations over workers’ exposure to nickel, CarNewsChina reports. CnEVPost notes that the issues had caused serious concern among local residents and that the authorities inspected the site repeatedly.
CATL says it received an occupancy permit in August 2026, met the conditions of its environmental permit, and that the authorities have confirmed all the deficiencies they found earlier have been resolved. It says it will monitor workers’ health and safety and environmental factors during the trial and send the results to the regulator, and that officials are welcome to visit at any time.
Why it matters
CATL is the biggest supplier of EV batteries. CnEVPost, citing SNE Research, reports that CATL installed 289.6 GWh of EV batteries worldwide in January to July 2026, a 39.9% global share, up from 38.0% a year earlier.
Making cells in Europe, rather than shipping them from China, shortens supply chains for European carmakers. It also puts a Chinese battery maker at the heart of European car production at a time when trade between China and Europe is under close political scrutiny.
What it means for UK buyers
There is no direct effect yet. CATL has not said which models its Debrecen cells will go into, or whether any cars sold in the UK will use them, and the plant is still in trial production. We have found no statement from Mercedes-Benz or BMW on whether cars for Britain will use Hungarian-made CATL cells.
Over time, more European battery production could help carmakers that build cars in Europe keep supply steady and costs down, but it is too early to say whether that will show up in UK prices. We will report when CATL confirms series production and names the cars its Hungarian cells are used in.
