CATL workers said that the recent decrease in orders and factory operating rate has significantly reduced their income.
On April 20th, according to media reports, some front-line workers of CATL recently reported that due to the downturn in the downstream new energy vehicle market, the company’s orders have decreased, the factory’s operating rate has decreased, and overtime hours have been significantly reduced. This has led to a significant reduction in their income, and some people have even chosen to resign.
Interviews by reporters from Cailian Press with over 30 CATL workers from various factories revealed that they generally feel “less busy than before.” Some have gone from “working 12 hours a day for 28 days a month” to “working 5 days a week for 8 hours,” while others have gone from “working 7 days and resting 1 day” to “working 4 days and resting 3 days,” and some departments have directly granted “2 to 3 months of leave.”
Meanwhile, the workers’ treatment has also been affected. On the one hand, the reduction in overtime hours has led to a decrease in take-home pay, and on the other hand, promotion and upgrading have become more difficult. According to CATL’s blue-collar recruitment customer service, employees, and some labor intermediaries, there are currently basically no plans to recruit ordinary workers in various factories.
According to a survey by SMM, China’s battery production in March 2023 was 41.3GWh, a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous month, but a 3% decrease from the same period last year. However, production capacity has increased significantly. According to data from Gotion High-Tech in January this year, the planned total production capacity of China’s power and energy storage battery market in 2023 is 2050GWh, and the total actual production capacity of China’s power and energy storage battery market is planned to be 1455GWh.
Mo Ke, the founder of True Lithium Institute, believes that “the capacity utilization rate of current power battery factories is generally less than half.” His analysis shows that this is mainly due to factors such as the decline in lithium prices, inventory devaluation, and insufficient downstream demand. He predicts that “when the price stabilizes and everyone has a fixed understanding, the sales of new energy vehicles may slowly increase.” Lu Tianli, a lithium battery analyst at Longzhong Information, said that the industry is now entering the end of destocking, and the recovery of downstream demand needs to be observed in the future. According to her prediction, the battery industry will not recover to last year’s peak until the third quarter.
In March, China’s power battery installation volume increased by 29.7% year-on-year, with CATL ranking first, accounting for 44.95%.
