Chinese manufacturer Jiangxi Judian New Energy Technology said it started construction this week of a new factory for solid state lithium batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province.
The company, owned by Shenzhen Fuxin Industrial Technology, an energy storage system (ESS) manufacturer, was investing CNY10bn (US$1.39bn) on production capacity for 10 gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries per year.
The first phase involves construction of 2GWh of cell capacity and a further 2GWh of battery pack capacity annually. The site covers 400,000 sq m half of which will be used in the first phase of construction.
Solid state batteries are seen as the next generation due to their high energy capacity and thermal stability, providing higher power output and greater driving ranges than current batteries.
The project got under way amid growing concerns significant overcapacity is being built up in China’s EV battery industry with reports suggesting 50 manufacturers are expected to be operating in the country by 2025 with capacity to produce four times domestic demand.
Earlier this week Beijing WeLion New Energy Technology said it was building four new EV battery plants in the country with combined capacity of 30GWh per year by 2025.
