"Strict environmental oversight and political shift delay CATL and BYD production in Hungary", CarNewsChina.com, 2 Sep 2026

The cell production project at CATL‘s factory in Hungary has been ordered to temporarily suspend operations due to occupational safety failures related to nickel exposure [...].

The local government stated on August 31 that CATL must complete all rectifications regarding occupational safety defects before production can officially begin. Currently, regulatory authorities are permitting the company to conduct equipment debugging only.

The suspension follows “nickel exposure” incidents during the debugging and trial production phase, where workers inhaled or came into contact with nickel dust exceeding occupational limits. CATL reported that after implementing routine biological exposure monitoring in early June 2026, nine employees were found to have elevated nickel indicators in August.

Subsequent inspections by Hungarian regulators between August 11 and 25 revealed insufficient protective equipment in several areas. Consequently, on August 25, authorities ordered the immediate cessation of work in the laser cutting workshops for positive and negative foils, the winding workshops, and the cell drying workshops.

[...] Although the first phase of the cell plant received its production license on August 25, actual operations are expected to be delayed. Furthermore, the application for the second phase’s production license was rejected on August 19 due to incorrect labelling of completed buildings on the general site plan.