(Yicai Global) Feb. 21 -- Chinese power battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology has held a ground-breaking ceremony for a CNY2.8 billion (USD442.8 million) project in the Lingang Special Area of Shanghai’s free trade zone.

The project, with a total area of 350,000 square meters, will develop low-power-consuming and long-endurance battery structures, control systems, and other technologies including battery thermal management, low-temperature applications, and battery safety protections, CATL said at the ceremony on Feb. 19.

The new complex, to be completed next year, will have 10 buildings: three factories, a test plant, five warehouses, and a research and development office building. It will neighbor Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory. Ningde-based CATL became the US electric carmaker’s battery supplier in 2020, and last year extended the supply deal to December 2025.

Fourteen projects covering the new energy vehicle, biomedicine, civil aviation, housing, transportation, and ecology sectors were launched in Lingang on Feb. 19, Yicai Global learned from the FTZ. Their total investment reached CNY18.7 billion (USD3 billion).

Lingang’s auto industry was worth more than CNY179 billion (USD28.3 billion) last year and produced 750,000 vehicles that accounted for a quarter of Shanghai’s vehicle output, according to data from the FTZ. The economic value of the area’s smart new energy vehicle sector is expected to soar to about CNY200 billion by 2025.

CATL’s installed capacity reached 96.7 gigawatt-hours last year, up 167.5 percent from 2020, according to data from market firm SNE Research. Its market share ranked first worldwide for five consecutive years, accounting for 32.6 percent in 2021.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione