Dutch battery maker Lithium Werks BV, founded earlier this year, is investing 1.6 billion euros ($1.85 billion) in a massive lithium-ion cell factory in China as demand for batteries is surging.
The facility will have production capacity of 8 gigawatt-hours per year, or the equivalent capacity of batteries to power 160,000 cars. It will be the company’s second Chinese manufacturing site and should start production in early 2021, Chairman Kees Koolen said by phone. The company will provide 20 percent of the cost in equity capital and raise the rest in project finance from a consortium of Chinese banks.
