
BYD
BYD,
which was founded in 1995 to make lithium batteries for consumer electronics,
has since evolved into one of the biggest producers of batteries for EVs. BYD
accounted for the second-biggest share, or 16.6%, of China's power battery
installed capacity in the first 11 months of 2021, with 21.34GWh.
BYD
has a CNY10bn (US$1.4bn) battery factory in Chongqing, southwestern Sichuan
province, with a 20GWh capacity, which will reportedly reach 35GWh by the end
of the year. It is currently the only plant that produces BYD's blade batteries,
introduced in March 2020.
BYD
also has a 2GWh plant in Huizhou, a 14GWh plant in Shenzhen (Guangdong), a 20GWh
plant in Bengbu (Anhui), a 24GWh plant in Qinghai and a 30GWh plant in Xi'an
(Shaanxi). BYD's current annual production capacity is estimated to
be around 60GWh and is expected to reach 100GWh by 2022.
BYD's
blade batteries can pack 50% more cells into a battery pack compared to
conventional LFP batteries due to their long, thin shape (96cm long, 9cm wide).
As a result, BYD says its Tang EV in Norway can reach a range of 400km on one
charge—similar to a standard range Tesla Model 3 car. The blade batteries have
a high longevity of 3k
charging/discharging cycles or 1.2m km (nearly 750k miles) of mileage.
CALB
Chinese battery manufacturer CALB plans to expand
its production capacity to 300GWh by 2025, up from the current level of 100GWh.
CALB accounted for 6.1% of China's power battery installed capacity in
January-September, with 5.64GWh.
The company said in September it was planning a new
CNY24.8bn battery factory in Hefei with a capacity of 50GWh. In April, it announced
the construction of a 50GWh factory in Chengdu, as well as a new plant in Wuhan.
Currently, the state-owned company has an R&D centre and three production
sites in Changzhou, Luoyang and Xiamen.
CALB’s automotive customers already include GAC Aion,
Changan Auto and Geely. In its September update, it said that it is in “discussions
on technology development cooperation” with Volkswagen, Daimler and Great Wall
Motor. In Europe, the company has joint ventures with ElringKlinger and
Continental to supply li-ion battery cells.
LG Chem
South Korea's LG Chem has two battery components
plants in China. These include a precursor plant in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province,
and an anode material plant in Wuxi. They are 100% powered by renewable energy
from Chinese power companies.
Gotion High-Tech
Gotion High-Tech, 26% owned by Volkswagen, is
aiming to expand its battery cell production to 300GWh by 2025. This marks a
massive jump from the 28GWh production capacity recorded at the end of 2020.
The company said in July it would build a factory with
VW in Hefei, which is located in the same province as VW's JAC Volkswagen,
since re-named Volkswagen Anhui. The modular electric drive matrix (MEB)
factory, which will produce VW's new unified cells, is expected to be completed
by the end of 2022 and to start operations in 2023. It will deliver 150k
battery systems a year for VW Anhui's EV models.
Volkswagen last year invested an additional EUR1bn (US$1.2bn)
to increase its stake in JAC Volkswagen from 50% to 75%, and to acquire 50% of
JAG, the parent company of its Chinese partner in JAC.
The company said in March it would invest CNY12bn
(US$1.9bn) in battery recycling and raw materials production facilities for
li-ion batteries in Hefei. Construction is expected to take 24 months. It said
in August it would build two plants in Jiangxi province to produce a combined
100ktpa of lithium carbonate.
Gotion High-Tech accounted for 5.1% of China's
power battery installed capacity in January-September, with 4.72GWh, making it the
fifth-biggest supplier.
SVOLT
Battery cell manufacturer SVOLT, a spin-off from
Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motors, plans to further expand its production
capacity in China with a plant in Chengdu. The 60GWh plant is expected to cost
CNY22bn (US$3.4bn), with CNY10bn (US$1.5bn) for the first phase.
SVOLT this month announced a planned 40GWh plant in
Jintan District, Changzhou, Jiangsu province. It is expected to cost CNY15bn
(US$2.3bn) and to be built in two stages. New factories are under construction
in Huzhou in Zhejiang province and Suining in Sichuan province, each with an annual
capacity of 20GWh. At the Huzhou plant, set to cost CNY5.6bn, first-stage
production is expected to begin in late 2022. Another factory in Nanjing, Jiangsu
province, was announced in June. It will have a capacity of 14.6GWh. The first 6.6GWh
stage is set to go into production as early as November.
In May last year, the firm launched a new
non-cobalt battery (75% nickel, 25% manganese), which is expected to be
used in a luxury car model in Great Wall's Haval series, set to launch in the
second half of 2021.
SVOLT is currently making EV batteries at its 18GWh
plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, which began production in December 2019. SVOLT
CEO Yang Xinhong said the company aims to reach a production capacity of 200GWh
in 2025. SVOLT concluded a CNY3.5bn (US$544m) financing round in March, which
was led by BOCGI (Bank of China Group Investment) and SDIC (State Development
& Investment Corporation).
Tesla
Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory is now producing more
cars than its factory in Fremont, California, CEO Elon Musk said this month.
While details were not disclosed, Musk said the factory was the best quality, the
lowest cost, and “low drama”. Tesla said it would continue to expand R&D
investment in China. As of early September, Giga Shanghai has a reported
annualised production run rate of 450k.
The plant, which opened in January 2019, took just
168 working days to go from permits to a finished plant. Tesla said this month
that it had paid off its US$1.4bn loan from Chinese banks.

Jiangxi
Ganfeng LiEnergy Technology
Chinese
power battery manufacturer Jiangxi Ganfeng LiEnergy Technology will build a
10GWh li-ion battery plant and R&D center in Chongqing. The firm, which is
majority-owned by Ganfeng Lithium, is also planning a 5GWh battery plant in Jiangxi
which is expected to come online in 2023. Ganfeng Lithium supplies battery-grade
lithium to automakers like Tesla, BMW and Volkswagen.
Geely
Geely
inked an agreement last year with local authorities to spend CNY30bn (US$4.6bn)
to build a new 42GWhpa battery factory in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province. Geely has
been pushing further into EVs this year, forging major collaboration pacts with
Baidu Inc., Foxconn Technology Group and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Geely, which
owns Volvo Cars, also has a 9.7% stake in Daimler AG.
SK
Innovation
To
capture growing demand, South Korea's SK Innovation said in September that it
would establish a second battery plant in Yancheng.
SK
currently operates two joint venture battery plants with China's EVE Energy Co.
The firms operate the 10GWhpa factory in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, capable
of producing 100k EV batteries, as well as another 10GWh plant in Yancheng, with
both coming online this year. SK inked a deal in September to supply Chinese EV
maker Xpeng with 80% nickel (NCM) li-ion batteries from Huizhou.
SK
also operates a joint-venture plant in Changzhou with Beijing Automotive
Industry Corp. The 7GWh plant commenced operations in 2019. SK said last month
than it plans to invest KRW1.2tn to build another battery plant in China, which
would be the company's fourth in the country.

EVE Energy
EVE Energy plans to build a 30GWh battery plant in
Jingmen, Hubei. Of the total capacity, 15GWh will be for LFP batteries to power
logistics vehicles and energy storage, while the other 15GWh will be for
ternary batteries for EVs. EVE installed 1.18GWh of battery capacity in 2020
and 1.7GWh during the first nine months of 2021.
Tianneng
Group
In
August, Tianneng Group announced plans to invest CNY3.97bn (US$618m) in a
10GWh-capacity li-ion battery project in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. The first
phase, a 3GWh LFP battery plant, has an expected construction timeline of 12
months. The second 7GWh phase has an estimated construction period of 30
months.
Tianneng
in 2019 inked a joint venture with battery producer Saft, a subsidiary of
French energy major TotalEnergies, to expand li-ion activity. Manufacturing
will be based at the Changxing gigafactory, with a potential capacity of 5.5GWh.
Saft has a 40% stake in the JV.
Shanghai-listed
Tianneng is a large-scale industrial battery company, with 16 production bases
in seven provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Guizhou, Shandong and
Jiangxi, and has more than 100 subsidiaries. Last year, its revenue rose 32% to
CNY53.5bn, and profit rose 47% to CNY2.5bn.
Chaowei
Power Holdings
Hong-Kong
listed Chaowei Power Holdings manufacturers lead-acid and li-ion batteries for
the electric bike and special-purpose EV sectors. The company has battery
plants in Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Henan and Hebei
provinces. Last year, revenue from lead-acid batteries accounted for 89% of its
total revenue of CNY27.3bn (US$4.2bn). Full-year profit rose 28% to CNY724m. Tianneng
Power holds a 10% stake in the company.
Envision AESC
Envision
AESC is constructing a 20GWh plant in three phases in Wuxi, which will be
capable of providing batteries for 400k vehicles.