battery manufacturing

South Korea’s LG Chem is reportedly set to build a second lithium-ion batteries production plant in Poland as orders outstrip the capacity of its existing facility in the country.

The move comes just a year after production of batteries for electric vehicles started at the group’s existing Kobierzyce production facility in southwestern Poland, with a capacity of around 100,000 batteries annually.

Johnson Controls International’s (JCI) soon-to-be-sold Power Solutions business, is joining forces with Toshiba to manufacture lithium-ion batteries that will be “paired” with lead-acid battery technology as part of dual-battery systems for carmakers.

JCI, which has agreed to sell Power Solutions to US and Canadian investment firms, said the partners will develop and make the lithium-ion batteries at JCI’s Holland plant in Michigan.

Zimbabwe’s government has set out proposals to build battery-manufacturing plants as part of a “lithium beneficiation” programme.

The minister for local government, public works and national housing, July Moyo (pictured), said an unspecified number of plants would be built in the country’s central Midlands Province— spurred by renewed lithium mining activity.