As Chinese interest in the burgeoning domestic new-energy vehicles and energy storage business hots up, one of the major lead-acid battery manufacturers in China, Sacred Sun announced recently it has put aside 0.85billion RMB (US$125M) for acquisitions and mergers with appropriate companies in the lithium ion supply chain.
The first investments are in SHIHLIEN APEX Huai’an and Yancheng (Jiangsu Province) Co. Ltd.—businesses which were founded in 2012. Their main activity is in motive power lithium ion battery manufacture. The current production capacity is 150 million Ah/year.
According to recent discussion at Battery 2016, reported in the autumn issue of BEST, China will be 75% dependent on import to achieve its vehicle electrification plans. The move from Sacred Sun could be seen as a means of ameliorating this.
“The Chinese Government has committed to increase the number of new-energy electric vehicles to 5 Million by 2020 and the market for EV batteries in China will be worth more than the total global market for lithium ion in consumer electronics. Meanwhile, the Chinese energy storage markets volume will be 67 GW by 2020, according to the China 13th 5 year plan.
“This is an enormous opportunity for China’s established and proven lead acid manufacturers to diversify and bring their exacting standards to lithium battery manufacture which is certain to grow strongly in the years ahead” said Mr Song Bin Chairman of Sacred Sun.