Vietnamese car manufacturer Kim Long Motor announced that it is joining forces with Chinese company BYD $1211 (+0.32%) to build a 130 million dollar factory to produce batteries for commercial electric vehicles in central Vietnam.
Under the agreement, Kim Long Motor will finance the construction of the plant, while BYD will provide comprehensive technical and technological support, the company said in a statement.
The plant will be built on 4.4 hectares of land and will have a capacity of 3 gigawatt hours per year, Kim Long Motor said in a statement.
The company said operations are expected to start soon, but did not give an exact timeline.
In the second phase, the plant will be expanded to 10 hectares and its production capacity will be doubled to 6 GWh per year. The expansion will also include the production of batteries for electric cars.
The plant will produce batteries for commercial vehicles such as buses, trucks and minibuses.
The Vietnamese market for electric vehicles is growing rapidly, led by domestic car manufacturer VinFast, which dominates the sector.
VinFast recently entered the commercial vehicle segment with the launch of its EC Van electric delivery van, which is designed for sustainable urban freight transportation.
