What’s new: Gotion High-tech Co. Ltd. (002074.SZ) has kicked off production at its first European factory, part of a broader overseas expansion by the Chinese battery-maker.
The plant, located in the German city of Göttingen, will increase its production lines in four phases with an aim to reach annual capacity of 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery packs, according to a company statement published Sunday. It could hit 5 GWh of annual capacity by mid-2024.
Volkswagen AG-backed Gotion expects to begin delivering products from the plant to European customers in October. The factory’s battery packs will be used in passenger and commercial vehicles as well as energy storage systems, the statement said.
The background: Opening the Göttingen facility marks the latest push by Gotion into overseas markets as the Shenzhen-listed company plans to locate one-third of its 300 GWh of planned production capacity outside of China by 2025.
Last week, the firm selected the U.S. state of Illinois for a $2 billion gigafactory that is set to start production of lithium-ion battery cells and packs next year.
Gotion also signed a memorandum of understanding with a Slovakian peer in February to explore the possibility of building a battery cell and pack gigafactory in central and eastern Europe.
In December, the Chinese firm inked a deal with a Bangkok-based energy giant to set up a joint venture in Thailand for producing and exporting battery modules and packs.
Gotion was the world’s ninth-largest EV battery-maker by installed capacity in the first half of 2023. Its 2.1% market share lagged far behind industry leader Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., which controlled 36.8% of the global market, according to South Korea-based SNE Research.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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