Chinese Company to Establish Large-Scale Electric Vehicle Battery Factory in Japan

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] Envision AESC Japan, a Chinese battery manufacturer, is building the largest electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in Japan in Ibaraki Prefecture.

According to Kyodo News on the 4th, Shoichi Matsumoto, president of Envision AESC Japan, held a joint press conference with Ibaraki Governor Kazuhiko Oigawa at the Ibaraki Prefectural Office and announced plans to establish a next-generation lithium-ion battery factory for EVs to supply Nissan and others.

The factory will be built on approximately 360,000 square meters of land in Ibaraki Prefecture, with an investment of about 50 billion yen. Construction is scheduled to begin in October this year, aiming to start mass production in 2024.

The production capacity will be 6 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year, enough to equip 150,000 units of Nissan's electric car "Leaf."

Kyodo News reported that the company plans to invest more than 100 billion yen in the long term to expand production facilities to an annual capacity of 18 GWh.

Envision AESC Japan is a subsidiary of the Envision AESC Group, with 80% investment from the Chinese renewable energy company Envision Group and 20% from Nissan. The Envision AESC Group also produces batteries for the Leaf at Nissan's factory in the United Kingdom.