Photo: Wechat account of CATL

Chinese electric batteries giant CATL refuted rumors that the European Commission is investigating its battery plant in Hungary. 

The project in Hungary has passed all local government environmental evaluations, and is progressing well, the company told the Global Times on Thursday. 

The European Commission has launched an investigation into the license held by Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology's factory in Hungary, said a Hungarian politician, according to media outlet yicaiglobal.com on August 28. 

Jávor Benedek, who is also a former member of the European Parliament earlier posted that the CATL plant "violated" the European Union's groundwater directive, as it severely over-used the surrounding underground water by extracting it more than three times faster than its replenishment time.

In August last year, CATL announced that it would invest no more than 7.34 billion euros ($8.01 billion) to build a new 100GWh battery factory in Debrecen, Hungary. Once completed, it will become the battery plant with the largest production capacity in Europe, and CATL's second battery factory on the continent.

Global Times