Vingroup is getting ready to build a battery plant
Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup plans to start building a battery cell factory for its electric car offshoot VinFast in Vietnam’s Ha Tinh province this year.
A Vingroup spokesperson confirmed the plan in principle, without giving details. According to Reuters, the plant is to start production in the third quarter of 2022 with an annual capacity of 3 GWh. An expansion to 5 GWh per year is planned by 2025.
According to the Reuters information, the group plans to invest $387 million (€332 million) in the plant on a 12.6-hectare site in the central province. The location was probably not chosen by Vingroup by chance: there were already reports in April that a second VinFast vehicle plant was to be built in the region.
VinFast has been selling vehicles since 2019, but the first models still have an internal combustion engine. However, the company plans to expand internationally with electric cars: two electric SUVs are to be launched next year, the mid-sized VF e35 and the seven-seater VF e36. As the company confirmed in September, the two models will also be sold in Europe, launching in three markets.
Details about the models and their batteries are not yet known, “full details of the product range” are to be announced by VinFast before the market launch in the first half of 2022. Among its partners, VinFast counts Faurecia, ZF, Dürr, Bosch, ABB and Thyssenkrupp.
VinFast is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy for the batteries: on the one hand, it is planning its own battery plants, which, however, cannot yet cover the current demand – so cells still have to be bought in. In addition, in the area of development, the company has been putting out feelers for some time in the direction of companies that are researching new battery technologies. These include Gotion High-Tech, ProLogium and StoreDot.
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