This is SK Innovation's fourth battery plant in China and its first wholly-owned battery plant there.

It's not just local battery makers that are expanding their power battery capacity in China, but foreign companies as well.

South Korea's SK Innovation officially broke ground on a 30-GWh power battery project in Yancheng city, eastern China's Jiangsu province, on January 17, according to an announcement made today by the city government.

According to SK Innovation's previously announced plans, its annual battery production capacity will expand to 85 GWh by 2023, 220 GWh by 2025 and more than 500 GWh by 2030.

South Korean media outlet Etnews said in September last year, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Xpeng Motors had signed a supply contract with SK Innovation in July to supply it with high nickel batteries with 80 percent nickel content.

SK Innovation is expected to supply Xpeng with batteries from its third battery plant in China, located in Huizhou, Guangdong province, according to the report.

The plant has an annual capacity of 10 GWh and is capable of supplying 100,000 vehicles with batteries that can travel more than 500 kilometers on a single charge, according to the report.

Headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Xpeng currently has a factory in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, and is building new factories in Guangzhou and Wuhan, central China.

XPeng reportedly signs battery supply deal with South Korea's SK Innovation