(Yicai) June 11 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology and Gotion High-Tech have both denied US lawmakers' allegations of forced labor at units of the two major Chinese battery producers.

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 6 that a group of US Republican lawmakers have called on the Department of Homeland Security to immediately add CATL and Gotion High-Tech to the so-called entity list, a US trade restriction tool, alleging that their supply chains use forced labor.

Ningde-based CATL dismissed the allegations in a statement on June 7, saying they were groundless and completely false. Gotion told Yicai the claims were completely unfounded and absolutely wrong, adding that it has always respected human rights and protected the rights of employees.

CATL said business relations with some of the suppliers named by the US lawmakers stopped long ago, while others never had any relations with CATL. Others work with the company through subsidiaries, but absolutely without any connection to forced labor or anything that violates US laws and regulations, CATL said.

Gotion added that the Hefei-based company selects its partners based on rigorous review mechanisms and evaluation standards.

At almost 37 percent last year, CATL ranked No. 1 for global power battery market share for the seventh consecutive year, according to South Korean research firm SNE Research. Its electric vehicle battery consumption volume soared 40.8 percent to 259.7 gigawatt-hours from 2022.

The firm also ranked first worldwide in the field of energy storage batteries for the third year in a row, with a 40 percent market share, per SNE Research.

Gotion was eighth globally for power battery installed capacity last year, with a total of 17.1 GWh, accounting for 2.4 percent of the market, according to SNE Research.

In February last year, CATL and Ford Motor announced they would jointly invest USD3.5 billion to build a battery plant that would use CATL’s technologies, with production expected to start in 2026. But media reports say the project has run into setbacks.

Most CATL products exported to the US are energy storage batteries. But according to a report published at the end of last year, US electric power firm Duke Energy will gradually stop using CATL’s energy storage batteries under pressure from the US Congress.

Gotion’s US unit said last September that it would build a battery plant with a 40 GWh annual capacity in Illinois. The first battery pack production line at the company’s plant in Fremont went into operation last December.

Editor: Futura Costaglione