Vietnam’s Kim Long partners with BYD on $130M EV battery plant
Vietnamese automobile manufacturer Kim Long Motor said on Tuesday it will partner with China’s BYD to develop a $130 million facility to produce batteries for commercial electric vehicles in central Vietnam.
Under the cooperation agreement, Kim Long Motor will finance the construction of the plant, while BYD will provide full technical and technological support, the company said in a statement, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The facility will be built on a 4.4-hectare site and will initially have an annual production capacity of 3 gigawatt-hours (GWh), according to Kim Long Motor.
The company said operations are expected to begin soon, though no specific timeline was disclosed.
In a second phase of development, the plant will expand to cover 10 hectares and double its annual output to 6 GWh. This expansion will also add battery production for electric passenger vehicles.
Initially, the factory will focus on manufacturing batteries for commercial electric vehicles, including buses, trucks, and minibuses.
Vietnam’s electric vehicle market is growing rapidly, driven largely by domestic automaker VinFast, which currently dominates the sector.
VinFast has recently expanded into the commercial vehicle segment with the launch of its electric cargo van, the EC Van, aimed at supporting sustainable urban freight transportation.
By Nijat Babayev
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