Shanghai (ZXZC)- CATL's battery module manufacturing base in Shanghai's Lin-gang Special Area will start production in early January 2022, according to a local media outlet, citing an official with the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization (SMCEI).

Photo credit: CATL

The manufacturing project is part of the all-around strategic cooperation CATL and Shanghai reached in August 2021. Other facilities CATL will launch in this megacity include a global innovation center, the headquarters for international functions, and a research institute for future energy, which will be built with Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Notably, the area, where CATL's battery module base is located, is also home to the Gigafactory of Tesla, a major client of CATL.

Industry insiders said CATL's production base, when it becomes fully operational, will generate a critical size of production value for Shanghai, and help the city boost the development of power battery and NEV industries.

For the month of November, the insurance registrations of locally-made new energy passenger vehicles in Shanghai reached 25,565 units, rising 7% from the year-ago period, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC). The first two best-selling NEV models were the Model Y and the Model 3, recording 3,227 and 1,301 units in Nov. registrations respectively. The two Tesla-branded models were also the top 2 among all PV models registered in Shanghai.