Major Chinese battery supplier EVE continues to undertake huge capacity expansion and investment projects. On September, it released three separate announcements revealing that it has injected capital into BTR, acquired a stake in Rifu Lithium Industry, and signed agreements to build a manufacturing base in Shenyang.
EVE Will Build a 40GWh Battery Manufacturing Base in Shenyang
EVE has signed agreements with the government of Shenyang and the management authority of the Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone for a local battery manufacturing base. The base will be located within the economic and technological development zone and entail an investment of around CNY 10 billion. The base will be used to manufacture Li-ion batteries that are equipped in NEVs and energy storage systems. Shenyang is the capital of China’s Liaoning Province and has long been a major industrial center in the country’s northeastern region.
The base, which is set to have a production capacity of 40GWh per year, will be built in two phases. The first phase will entail an investment of CNY 5 billion, of which CNY 4 billion is related to fixed assets. The first phase will see the construction of the main production facilities and supporting facilities that provide 20GWh per year for NEV power batteries and energy storage batteries. EVE said the base will incorporate the latest smart manufacturing technologies.
EVE also pointed out that the base is a capacity expansion project that leverages its and its local partners’ resources and advantages. Once the base is up and running, it will be contributing to the company’s efforts in scaling up production and capturing opportunities in the market for NEV power batteries.
EVE continues to cultivate its presence in the supply chain for NEV power batteries and has kept speeding up the implementation of its capacity expansion projects. As of now, EVE has a planned production capacity of almost 300GWh. Its manufacturing bases include a 153GWh site in Jingmen (Hubei Province), a 10GWh site in Yuxi (Yunnan Province), a 10GWh site in Qujing (Yunnan Province), and a 50GWh site in Chengdu (Sichuan Province). Furthermore, EVE has set up joint projects with other domestic and foreign providers of energy equipment and renewable energy solutions. Examples of its partners include Linyang Energy and SK On.
EVE Has Injected CNY 884 Million into BTR’s Sichuan Subsidiary
According to one of the notices released by EVE on September 27, BTR and EVE have respectively injected CNY 826 million and CNY 884 million into BTR’s subsidiary in Sichuan. The subsidiary’s registered capital has been raised to CNY 2.21 billion. Following this round of capital injection, BTR will hold a 60% stake in the subsidiary, whereas EVE will hold a 40% stake.
EVE said the capital injection is for the construction of an integrated manufacturing base in Yibin, a city in Sichuan. The base is set to have 100,000 tons per year of production capacity for anode materials used in Li-ion batteries. The entire base is scheduled to become operational by June 30, 2024. Furthermore, the supply of anode materials from the base will be prioritized to meet EVE’s demand. There is also the possibility that the production capacity of the base could be expanded beyond 100,000 tons per year depending on the market situation.
Earlier, EVE together with another subsidiary of BTR and South Korea’s SK On set up a joint venture in Changzhou, a city in China’s Jiangsu Province. Through the joint venture, they built a manufacturing base with a production capacity of 50,000 tons per year for ternary cathode materials used in Li-ion batteries. The total investment in this project came to USD 352 million. The base commenced mass production on July 18 this year.
BTR also disclosed that its connected transactions with EVE and the subsidiaries of EVE are expected to increase by no more than CNY 1.3 billion for the second half of 2022. The majority of these transactions will be related to cathode and anode materials.
EVE Has Acquired 20% Stake in Rifu Lithium Industry for CNY 800 Million
Junhua New Energy, which controls Rifu Lithium Industry, has agreed to sell 20% of Rifu’s shares to EVE for CNY 800 million. Earlier, EVE announced that it signed an agreement with Rifu and Zijin Mining Group to form a joint venture in Hunan Province. Through this joint venture, they will invest CNY 3 billion in a base for manufacturing lithium carbonate and lithium salts. The base will be built over multiple phases and have a production capacity of 90,000 tons per year.
Rifu develops, manufactures, and sells products related to lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide. Currently, its production capacity has reached 25,000 tons per year for battery-grade lithium carbonate and 10,000 tons per year for battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Rifu’s key competitive advantages include in-house processing technologies and complete production lines. It possesses mature and patented technologies for refining lithium from spodumene. In fact, it is categorized as a “high and new technology enterprise” due to having many patents.
EVE said this acquisition deal will contribute to its efforts in extending into the upstream sections of the industry chain. The deal will also improve the stability of the flow of raw material supply. This, in turn, will make EVE more resistant to risks and boosts its profitability.
This article is a translation of a Chinese article posted by TrendForce. It contains information that is either sourced from other news outlets or accessible in the public domain. Some Chinese names are transcribed into English using Hanyu Pinyin.
