BYD currently has about 20 power battery production bases in China, and analysts expect it to have a capacity of 285 GWh by the end of this year.
As China's largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker and one of the largest power battery manufacturers, BYD is continuing to expand its battery production capacity.
BYD plans to build a new power battery production base in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, in eastern China, with a planned annual capacity of 20 GWh, and the first production line is expected to start production in 2024, according to a press release from the local government yesterday.
The production base is located in Wenzhou's Yongjia county's Qiaotou town, and the planned power batteries will be produced using one of the highly promising battery technologies currently available, the release said, without revealing the specific technology.
As background, BYD's power batteries are currently based primarily on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. Recent reports have suggested that its solid-state batteries, as well as sodium-ion batteries, are expected to be in use by 2023, but have been denied by the company.
The Wenzhou city government and BYD held an online signing ceremony on November 23, attended by BYD chairman and president Wang Chuanfu and local officials.
This is the latest power battery production base BYD plans to build.
On August 15, BYD signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Yichun city government in Jiangxi province, where it plans to invest RMB 28.5 billion ($3.98 billion) in a power battery base as well as a mining project.
The battery base will have an annual capacity of 30 GWh, while the mining project will be able to produce 100,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate and ceramic clay, including lithium, annually.
BYD's power battery installed base in China in October was 7.74 GWh, ranking second with a 25.36 percent share, according to data released earlier this month by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).
CATL continued to be the largest power battery manufacturer in China with a 48.33 percent share, with 14.76 GWh of power batteries installed in October.
In the LFP battery market, CATL installed 8.01 GWh in October, with a share of 40.73 percent. BYD ranked second with a 39.29 percent share.
By the end of 2021, BYD's battery capacity was 135 GWh, local brokerage Founder Securities said in a June 6 research note. The brokerage expects that figure to reach 285 GWh by the end of this year and 445 GWh next year.
BYD currently has about 20 power battery production bases in China, according to Founder Securities.
(Image credit: Founder Securities)
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