alt Hacker NewsCATL is building one of the largest battery manufacturing facilities in Europe in Spain.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-catl-breaks-groun...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061492 (“CATL's Spain plant will likely be one of Europe's largest LFP battery production hubs at ~50GWh of production capacity, employing ~4k workers with an investment of ~€4.1B.”)
China views Spain as a better strategic partner [0] than Germany.
China and Spain signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021 [1] and Spain is lobbying on behalf of China against the "Made in EU" act [2].
On the other hand, Germany is backing EU quotas and origination requirements to push back against Chinese overproduction [3].
Of course, China and Germany have fallen out due to Ukraine [4] as well as China's negative perception about the EU as an institution [5].
[0] - https://cn.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/2026-06/19/content_11855853...
[1] - https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/gjhdq_665435/3265_665445/3356_6...
[2] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/china-lob...
[3] - https://www.ft.com/content/06b7fe04-25f7-445b-824a-135ae7359...
[4] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/germany-closer-us-than-c...
[5] - https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.ht...