As part of China’s environmental crackdown on lead-acid battery producers, close to eight million KVAh in battery manufacturing output has been identified for elimination as having “out-dated capacity”.
This involves 44 battery producers, including plants run by Shangdong Sacred Sun, Jianyang Guantianji, Shaoyang Greatwall Storage Battery, Jiangsu Leoch and Jiangsu Suzhong Battery, which make up 44.78% of the total identified capacity.
The first phase of shut downs last year closed small factories that were not compliant with safety guidelines: what is happening now is in effect closing plants belonging to these companies that are operating using older manufacturing methods. The ruling that came into force on July 1st this year regards lead plate making methods that are not approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
This decision was based upon the May 2012 ruling by the MIIT, which states that capacity should be no less than 500 000 kVA for new or expanded plants and no less than 200 000 kVA for existing ones. The intention is that the MIIT can better police larger manufacturers. The ruling also prohibits the reorganisation and expansion of plates and outsourcing plate-assembled batteries, and puts forward clear requirements on the production technology and equipment to improve the industry access threshold.
