Battery manufacturer SVOLT has signed an agreement with the municipal government of Chengdu to build a 60GWh battery production base. Chinese website Gasgoo reported that SVOLT will invest CNY 22 billion to build a battery production plant and an R&D center in Jianzhou New Town, a district for advanced industries in the eastern part of Chengdu. Spanning an area of 2,500 mu, the entire project will be developed over three phases with 20GWh of production capacity added in each phase. For the first phase, SVOLT will spend around CNY 10 billion and use 767 mu of land.
The Chengdu base is SVOLT’s largest project in Sichuan Province to date in terms of investment and production capacity, followed by the 20GWh battery production plant in Suining. Currently, SVOLT is setting up several battery production sites in China. All of them will play a critical role in the implementation of the company’s strategy. As of now, SVOLT plans to add 150GWh of battery production capacity this year. It aims to reach a total of 200GWh by 2025.
EV news websites have speculated the possibility of the Chengdu base being used to manufacture SVOLT’s cobalt-free battery pack, which was introduced at this year’s Chengdu Motor Show. At the event, SVOLT’s technology was unveiled along with ORA Cherry Cat, an electric SUV from Great Wall Motors. It is worth noting that SVOLT spun off from Great Wall Motors. In a press release about the event, SVOLT said that its cobalt-free battery pack is compatible with MEB platforms and offers an energy density of 170Wh/kg. The battery pack is also very light in weight and meets or surpasses China’s national standards for performance and safety.
Even though SVOLT claims that it is the first in the world to offer cobalt-free battery technology for EVs, several media outlets have mentioned that Telsa is equipping cobalt-free LFP batteries in the Model 3 vehicles manufactured in China. Besides China, SVOLT is also establishing a manufacturing presence in Europe. Specifically, the company is investing EUR 2 billion to build factories in Saarland (Germany) for the production of cells, modules, and packs.