China’s EV battery boom goes bust

YANG Ming, an employee of CALB, China’s third-largest power battery producer, was confused and surprised by the company’s sudden pay cuts, layoffs and reduction in output.

“I don’t know what happened this year,” Yang, in his early 20s, told Caixin in mid-March. “The entire industry has few orders. Nearby factories are all laying off people, and any production line without orders may cut jobs.”

Based in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, CALB started to cap work hours and cut compensation late last year, according to Yang. The company froze hiring in February, while the number of employees plunged to 1,000 from a peak of 8,000. Yang and his colleagues had no expectation of an industry downturn, he said.