South Korean lithium-ion battery firm LG Chem plans to build its second battery production plant in Nanjing, eastern China, which will reportedly make batteries for 100,000 new energy vehicles annually.
The Nanjing government confirmed the US$2 billion facility is scheduled to start construction in the Jiangning Binjiang Economic Development this October and start mass production within a year.
LG Chem could not be contacted for comment on the project at the time of BEST Battery Briefing going to press. However, the Nanjing Daily newspaper said the company expects production capacity to reach 32 gigawatt-hours by 2023.
According to the paper, the factory will provide batteries for car firms including Hyundai, Volvo, General Motors, Renault and Chrysler.
Authorities in Nanjing said the new plant would also manufacture batteries for energy storage and other applications.
Nanjing Municipal Committee secretary Zhang Jinghua said LG Chem had forged “a long-term good cooperative relationship with Nanjing, and its subsidiaries have been rooted in the city for many years, which have made outstanding contributions to the local economic and social development”.
In 2015, LG Chem opened its first battery plant in the region in a separate Nanjing economic development zone.
The latest project indicates a further easing of economic tensions between China and South Korea, after Beijing imposed sanctions on the use of South Korean batteries.