Gotion High Tech Co (002074.SZ), a Chinese battery manufacturer, has stated that it intends to locate 33% of its production capacity outside of China by 2025.This is to meet the growing demand from electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers and energy storage customers outside of China.
The company, which is based in the city of Hefei in the province of Anhui, said in a statement on Tuesday that it plans to reach a total battery production capacity of 300 gigawatt hours (GWh) in three years, which is the same goal it set the year before. In 2021, the most Gotion could make was 16 GWh.
The group said that 100 GWh of its planned all-out limit would be found outside of the country.
Chinese battery makers are moving faster to increase production in foreign markets where competitors like Panasonic (6752.T) and LG Energy Solution (373220.KS) are more common.
Gotion’s move is similar to that of its Chinese competitor, CATL (300750.SZ), which is the biggest battery company in the world and plans to start making cells at its German plant before the end of the year. The head of CATL, Zeng Yuqun, has said before that it is also looking into ways to stop foreign automakers from making cars in their own countries.
Gotion’s biggest single financial backer is Volkswagen, and the company said it will start building its most famous overseas battery plant in Gottingen, Germany, before the end of this year. It hopes to start making batteries there as soon as September of next year.
The plant will make batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage in Europe. It will be built in an old office building that Gotion bought from Bosch last year.
Monday, the company also announced its most popular line of energy storage products for markets outside of the United States.
Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries made by Gotion, which is the fourth largest EV battery maker in China based on sales volume, are used in cars made by Volkswagen and Tata Group, among others.
