Vietnam’s Kim Long Motor announced that it has partnered with Chinese automaker BYD Auto to build a new electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Vietnam. The facility will be built within Kim Long’s main production hub in Huế city, with an initial production capacity of 3 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries per year for commercial vehicles produced by Kim Long.
The Vietnamese automaker confirmed that as part of the deal with BYD, a second phase of construction will expand the plant’s production capacity to 6 GWh per year, to supply batteries for passenger cars. The company has earmarked an investment of US$ 130 million for the two phases of construction.
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Kim Long is expected to fund the construction of the plant, while BYD will provide “full technological support” for the project. The partnership is expected to allow Kim Long to gradually develop the skills to become an EV battery manufacturer, from design and manufacturing to quality management capabilities, to ensure its future EVs are competitive and have high levels of safety.
Kim Long expects the battery plant will allow it to achieve a local content ratio of over 80% in its EVs, and to establish a regional-scale vehicle production operation.
