On March 28, 2021, the Guangdong 2021 Q1 key projects launching ceremony took place at CATL Zhaoqing Production Base, marking the official launch of CATL's EV Battery and Energy Storage Battery Project in Zhaoqing city. Governor of Guangdong Province Ma Xingrui and chairman of CATL Robin Zeng attended the event.

During the launching ceremony, Mr. Ma Xingrui said: “We should stress the development of key industrial projects and focus on the construction of 20 strategic industry clusters in Guangdong Province, to promote the green development and digital transformation of the industries.”

“The new energy industry has a promising future. We will take four-dimensional innovation systems as the support to develop in three strategic directions, to make contributions to Zhaoqing High-tech Zone’s carbon neutrality,” Robin Zeng said. 

On February 2, 2021, CATL signed a cooperation agreement with the Guangdong Provincial Government and Zhaoqing Municipal Government. According to the agreement, CATL will invest 12 billion yuan (about 1.85 billion U.S. dollars) in Phase I to build South China’s largest lithium-ion battery production base with a capacity of 25 GWh in Zhaoqing. It is estimated that topping-off of the plant in Phase I will be completed by the end of this year. The first production line will be put into operation next year. The whole-process industrial chains from battery cell production to battery system assembly will be established in the future. 

After CATL's Zhaoqing Project is completed, the products will be first supplied to enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area). Also, CATL will help bring together upstream and downstream enterprises of the industry chain, to support the development of the new energy vehicle industry in the Greater Bay Area over the next five years.