Major Chinese battery producer Contemporary Amparex Technology (CATL) has started constructing the fourth phase of its power battery production complex in Liyang city in east China's Jiangsu province.

The fourth phase, with an investment cost of no more than 1.2bn yuan ($186mn), will comprise 12 lithium-ion battery production lines with a total capacity of 40 GWh/yr, as well as supporting facilities for module and battery pack production.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. The fourth phase will raise total battery capacity at the Liyang complex to 126 GWh/yr.

CATL in December also unveiled plans to build a production plant in Fuding city in southeast China's Fujian province and expand capacity at its production complex in Yibin city in southwest China's Sichuan province.

CATL has been ramping up its output capacity in recent years to meet buoyant demand from the fast-growing new energy vehicle market. It has been supplying lithium-ion power batteries to US electric vehicle producer Tesla since last July.

China's newly installed volume of power batteries rose to 63.6GWh in 2020, up by 2.3pc from a year earlier, with production falling by 2.3pc to 83.4GWh last year, according to China's automotive manufacturers association.