GAC breaks ground on battery plant in China
The Chinese car company GAC has started building a production facility for electric car batteries in Guangzhou. With a total investment of 10.9 billion yuan (1.5 billion euros or $1.561 billion), the new factory is scheduled to go into operation in March 2024 with an annual production capacity of 6 GWh.
By the end of 2025, the plant should expand to 36 GWh per year – enough for 600,000 electric cars, mainly for its own brand GAC Aion. When the factory is fully up and running in 2025, annual production value is expected to be the equivalent of 21 billion yuan or about 2.7 billion euros. Research and development will also be located at the facility, along with sales and service capacities.
In April last year, GAC Aion announced its “Neutron Star Strategy” at the company’s Technology Day, saying it would conduct research and development of batteries. Later in 2021, GAC unveiled its silicon sponge negative cell technology. This is supposed to be lighter and smaller cell technology and should improve cell energy density, power density and low-temperature battery characteristics. In August this year, GAC announced the foundation of a subsidiary for the industrialisation of its own battery business. The new company, named Lvqingg, is supposed to focus mainly on LFP batteries and building its own battery factory. In the meantime, according to CV China Post, GAC’s battery offshoot is called Yinpai Battery. GAC Aion entered into a battery partnership with Ganfeng in August – among other things, for the supply of battery materials. GAC Aion also introduced a new LFP technology in July this year.
According to Gasgoo, Yinpai Battery’s factory will help GAC AION build a closed-loop energy ecosystem. This involves upstream battery raw materials and R&D, followed by manufacturing, recycling, and cascade utilisation of batteries (second-life battery applications according to priority use).
With the company and its own battery production, GAC wants to become less dependent on the sharp rise in battery costs. According to CN EV Post, GAC chairman Zeng Qinghong said at an event in the summer that 40 to 60 per cent of the costs of a new energy vehicle would be accounted for by the battery. “Actually, I’m actually working for CATL now,” Zeng joked, complaining about the high cost of batteries. That said, CATL chief scientist Wu Kai said in July this year that although the world’s largest battery maker was not exactly losing money, but is nevertheless struggling on the edge of a slight profit. Wu also explained that upstream raw material costs sucked away most of the profits.
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