(Yicai Global) Oct. 23 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's largest battery maker and better known as CATL, has begun construction of what will be the biggest lithium battery plant in Germany and the company's first outside of China.

The Fujian province-based firm began work on the facility in Thuringia state on Oct. 18, The Paper reported yesterday. The facility spans 23 hectares and is expected to hit max capacity -- 14 gigawatt-hours a year -- in 2022.

The new plant will add 2,000 local jobs and help boost the region's lithium battery sector, Xinhua News Agency cited Matthias Zentgraf, the firm's European president, as saying at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Zentgraf also reiterated the firm's plans to invest EUR1.8 billion (USD2 billion) in the factory over the next five years, which the company announced in June. CATL had originally agreed with the Thuringia government that it would invest EUR240 million to build the factory and a smart manufacturing research facility in state capital Erfurt.

Founded in 2011, CATL builds power batteries and energy storage systems for new energy vehicles. It more than doubled net profit and operating revenue annually in the first half to CNY2.1 billion (USD297 million) and CNY20.3 billion, according to its interim report.

Editor: James Boynton