BYD pushing to increase battery production capacity
BYD has announced their plan to construct a battery factory with an annual capacity of 30 GWh in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province. Its size will place it among the country’s “super factories” and is part of a wider push by BYD to increase production.
The new battery factory in Xi’an will cost BYD 1.75 billion dollars (12BN RMB) to build. Once completed, its 30 GWh annual capacity will make it into a “super factory” even by Chinese standards.
It is their second new factory after they had signed an agreement with the city of Chongqing for a battery factory with an annual capacity of 20 GWh this August.
Talking of which, the facility is part of a larger investment. BYD is planning to increase their annual capacity from the currently expected 28 GWh this year to 48 GWh in 2019 and up to 60 GWh in 2020. As a comparison: CATL is planning to increase their battery cell manufacturing to 88 GWh by 2020.
The BYD batteries will not only be used for their own electric vehicle models, but also sold to third parties. In the case of Changan, the carmaker decided to have a hand in the battery production as well. The Chongqing-based joint venture by BYD and Changan will produce up to 10 GWh of batteries and sell as well as recycle those. Particularly the will to jointly recycle batteries makes sense in light of China’s plans to force vehicle manufacturers to introduce battery recycling. This August, the Traceability Management Platform went live to manage the process (we reported).
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