Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese power battery maker Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery Co., Ltd. (“Sunwoda EVB”) on March 11 signed an agreement with Zhuhai municipal government for the investment in a battery manufacturing project, according to a post on the WeChat account of Sunwoda Electronic Co., Ltd. (“Sunwoda”), the parent of Sunwoda EVB.

Sunwoda EVB, Zhuhai municipal government signing agreement; photo credit: Sunwoda

Under the agreement, Sunwoda EVB plans to plow 12 billion yuan ($1.887 billion) in the construction of a battery manufacturing base in Zhuhai city, Guangdong province. Covering an area of around 800 mu (533,300 square meters), the completed manufacturing facility is designed to feature a yearly production capacity of 30GWh power batteries and energy storage batteries.

The company aims to build the Zhuhai factory into an all-new base dedicated to manufacturing lithium ion batteries and a benchmark plant focusing on producing cells, modules, and battery systems for EV power and energy storage batteries.

Moreover, under the project, the upstream and downstream production capacity pivoting on terminal battery products will be deployed, the application of optical storage and super-fast charging technologies will be promoted, and the R&D and testing facilities for lithium ion batteries will be established.

The agreement was signed only 9 days after Sunwoda unveiled the Sunwoda EVB's plan to ink an investment deal with Zhuhai municipal government. According to the statement released then, Sunwoda EVB would set up a subsidiary, temporarily named Zhuhai Sunwoda New Energy Co., Ltd., to advance the implementation of the project.

For the first two months of 2022, Sunwoda EVB recorded a power battery installed capacity of 0.46GWh, accounting for 1.55% of China's total volume, according to the data from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance.