SK Innovation Co., South Korea's largest refiner by sales, said Friday it will invest in a 820 billion won (US$730 million) battery plant in China, a move aimed at meeting growing demand for car batteries.
In a joint venture with BAIC Motor Corporation., Ltd. and Beijing Electronics Holding Co., Ltd., SK Innovation plans to build the 7.5 gigawatt-hour capacity battery plant by 2019, with an aim to start production the following year, the company said in a statement.
The company didn't provide the three companies' investment ratios in the plant.
The 7.5 GWh output capacity can churn out enough power packs to supply 250,000 electric vehicles equipped with 30 KWh batteries, it said.
SK Innovation has a battery plant in it home market and plans to complete the construction of a battery plant in Hungary by 2022. The combined capacity from the three plants will reach 20 GWh, the company said. (Yonhap)