Chinese electric vehicle battery maker SVOLT has suspended the construction of two plants in Europe, after facing financial issues and struggling to remain operational amid increased competition from giants CATL and BYD at home, financial media outlet Caixin first reported on Oct. 24. Construction of a facility in the German state of Saarland, which was initially planned for assembling battery modules and packs from imported cells with an annual capacity of 24 gigawatt hours (GWh), has been suspended indefinitely several people close to the company told Caixin. This comes after the Chinese firm confirmed in May that it had stopped the building of another cell production facility for Europe in Lauchhammer, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Berlin, due to the loss of a significant customer, among other reasons. Meanwhile, a separate report from Nikkei said last week that the battery supplier, backed by Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor, plans to shut down its European and German subsidiaries by next January. [Nikkei, Caixin, in Chinese]

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