On March 11, Sunwoda and the municipal government of Zhuhai signed an agreement under which Sunwoda will build a battery production base within the city. Headquartered in Shenzhen, Sunwoda is a battery manufacturer and a contract manufacturer for electronics. This story was first reported by local Chinese news outlets.
Spanning an area of around 800 mu, the base will have an annual production capacity of 30GWh for Li-ion batteries used in electric cars and energy storage systems. Sunwoda is investing approximately RMB 12 billion into this project, which is scheduled for completion by the second half of 2023.
According to the reporting by Chinese news outlets, the new base will be a core production site for Sunwoda. In addition to the manufacturing of battery cells and modules, the base will also be responsible for the assembly of the whole battery systems and the development of downstream applications. Sunwoda is currently carrying out a massive capacity expansion strategy with several EV battery production sites being set up across China. For instance, the company announced earlier in December last year that it will be developing another 30GWh production base in Shandong Province.
PV-plus-storage systems and fast charging solutions are some of the application segments that Sunwoda wants to enter. Moreover, the base will have a R&D center and a product testing facility. All in all, the new base in Zhuhai will play an important role in the vertical integration of Sunwoda’s business operations that are engaging in different sections of the supply chain.
Several financial news outlets reported in February that a consortium of investors will acquire a stake of around 19.5% in Sunwoda’s subsidiary Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery for RMB 2.43 billion. The consortium include Chinese car manufacturers such SAC Motor, GAC Group, Nio, and Xpeng. Hence, Sunwoda is expected to have a steady flow of orders from the domestic automotive industry.