South Korea’s top battery maker LG Chem Ltd. has set up a joint venture with VinFast, Vietnam’s first automaker, to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric scooters and cars, the Korean company said Sunday.
The joint venture, named VLBP, is a follow-up to the memorandum of understanding the two companies signed in September last year to cooperate on developing eco-friendly products, including setting up a joint venture. The JV officially kicked off in Vietnam last Friday. The financial terms and the stake of the joint venture were not disclosed.
Their joint venture will run a lithium-ion battery manufacturing factory, which is to be built in Vietnam’s northern port city of Hai Phong. Batteries to be produced at the factory will be supplied for VinFast’s electric scooters that are currently in production as wells as for electronics cars that the Vietnamese automaker will produce in the future. VinFast will be responsible for operating the lithium-ion battery production line and warehouse, while LG Chem will provide technological supports and supervise facility management.
VinFast is Vietnam’s first finished car maker that Vietnam’s largest private enterprise Vingroup set up in 2017. The automaker that develops electric scooters and electric cars rolled out its first electric scooter powered by lithium-ion battery November last year. Last month, the company finished the trial production of its first electric car Lux SA2.0. It aims to start its commercial production by September this year.
Thanks to its inroad to Vietnam, LG Chem is expected to speed up its plan of tripling its total battery production capacity from current 35-gigawatt hours (GWh) to 110 GWh by 2020. It has set aside 6.2 trillion won ($5.4 billion) for expanding business this year and plans to invest half of it on electric car battery segment.
Earlier this year, the company announced its plan to invest 1.2 trillion won to ramp up the output of its secondary battery plant in China. It is also seeking to open its second European battery factory.
On Monday, shares of LG Chem ended 1.59 percent higher at 383,500 won.
Source: pulsenews.co.kr
