BYD to build new factory in China
BYD plans to open another factory for its Blade Batteries with lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells in China. According to an environmental audit report, BYD subsidiary FinDreams Technology will invest billion yuan (about 1.2 billion dollars) into the new 40-GWh production facility.
The new plant in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, will span an area of 115 hectares. BYD did not give any details about a possible production start. However, the 40 GWh production capacity refers to the final expansion stage. Capacity will most likely be less during the different production phases.
It is already the third plant BYD announced for China since November. The reason: the group’s EV sales keep growing, and BYD builds both cars and batteries (and cells). Specifically, Hong Kong and Shenzhen-listed automakers more than tripled their sales last year to 1.86 million vehicles. BYD sells most of its cars in China.
The company already started building a Blade Battery plant in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, in January 2023. The factory will have an annual capacity of 15 GWh annually and will be operational in December 2023. BYD is building another battery factory in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, with a yearly capacity of 20 GWh and a planned production start in 2024.
The blade battery is an LFP cell with a unique form factor in that the cells are very long, which makes them resemble the blade of a sword. The blade battery is a cell-to-pack technology, meaning that the cells are built directly into the battery pack and not first grouped into individual modules. That allows for more energy density at the pack level. BYD uses the blade batteries in its models and markets them to third parties. To Tesla’s German plant, for example.
According to CN EV Post, BYD had a production capacity of 89.835 GWh in December 2022 – at the end of 2021, it was 37.921 GWh.
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