BYD to develop power battery manufacturing, mining projects in Yichun

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On August 15, BYD Company Limited ("BYD") signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the municipal government of Yichun city, local authorities of Yichun Economic and Technological Development Zone and Yifeng county, as well as Yichun Mining Co., Ltd. to develop power battery manufacturing and mining projects, according to a post on the city's governmental WeChat account, “Yichun Fabu”.

Under the agreement, BYD plans to pour a total of 28.5 billion yuan ($4.198 billion) in building a power battery base with an annual production capacity of 30GWh and an ore mining and selecting base with a capacity of outputting 100,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate and ceramic clay (containing lithium) in Yichun city, China's Jiangxi province.

Photo credit: BYD

Some industry analysts said BYD's selection of Yichun as the city where its new power battery base will be based links to the city's abundant lepidolite reserves.

Aside from BYD, Chinese leading power battery suppliers, CATL and Gotion High-Tech, have already deployed battery manufacturing projects in Yichun.

As publicly disclosed, since the launch of the Blade battery in March 2020, BYD's power battery unit, FinDreams Battery, has set up over 20 subsidiaries in China, indicating its resolution to rapidly expand battery production capacity.

According to BYD's latest monthly update, the company's installed capacity of NEV power batteries and energy storage batteries reached 7.287GWh in July 2022, resulting in a cumulative volume of around 41.329GWh for the Jan.-Jul. period.