China Electric Mfg. Corp., currently Taiwan`s No.1 homegrown lighting maker, will co-open a factory in Changsu of the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu in mainland China to turn out lithium iron phosphate, or LiFePO4, pack batteries, in cooperation with China-based battery maker Golden Crown Energy Corp.
The China Electric chairperson, L.J. Chou, said the planned factory is set to be the world`s No.1 manufacturer of the LiFePO4 pack batteries. The company will initially funnel US$90 million into the factory for a 30% shareholding and invest a total of US$250 million in five years in the production. The factory is designed to finally house 32 production lines to produce the batteries and 80 lines to crank out battery cells.
Strategic partner in the joint venture also includes Supreme Electronics Co., Ltd., a Taiwan-based trader of electronic devices.
Chou pointed out that the investment pact was signed late last month. She added that the factory will stand on a 180-acre site and will become the world`s No.1 LiFePO4 battery factory as soon as its output reaches 5.8 giga amperes.
The factory will be completed in four stages, with three battery lines and five cell lines slated for completion and pilot production by the end of this year in the first stage. The output is set at 3600 mega amperes in this stage.
Second-stage construction will be completed by the end of 2011 to turn out 1.5 giga amperes of batteries with 20 cell lines and eight battery lines.
Third-stage construction, scheduled for completion by the end of 2012, aims to increase output to 3.6 giga amperes with 50 cell lines and 20 battery lines.
China Electric saw revenue increase over 50% in the first half of this year from the same half of last year mostly thanks to impressive growth in green-energy business like light emitting diode LED The company`s green-energy business has been expanded to include LED and lithium iron phosphate battery.
