(Bloomberg) -- The battery maker for Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf vehicles is adding a factory in China to more than triple its global capacity and lure more customers in the world's biggest electric-vehicle market.
Automotive Energy Supply Corp. began construction of the factory in Wuxi in China's eastern Jiangsu province this year with a planned annual capacity of 20 gigawatt-hours, enough to power 400,000 electric cars a year, said Zhang Lei, chief executive officer of Envision Group. The Chinese renewable-energy company, which purchased a controlling stake in the battery business from Nissan, currently has three facilities in Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. that can produce a combined 7.5 gigawatt-hours of batteries for electric vehicles a year.
“China has no shortage of EV battery makers, but it lacks one with products that people will feel absolutely safe to take their families around in,” Zhang said in an interview in Shanghai on April 14.
China aims to sell 7 million new-energy vehicles annually by 2025, including pure-battery electric, hybrid plug-ins and fuel-cell vehicles. Automakers such as Tesla Inc., Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG are all teaming up with battery makers including Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. to secure supplies as they prepare to release more EVs.
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Zhang didn't provide an investment figure for the factory, which is scheduled to begin mass production next year at the earliest.
While AESC tries to gain orders from other global carmakers, it will continue to supply Nissan's electric cars including the Leaf, which is a key reason that the Japanese carmaker still holds a 20 percent stake, said Zhao Weijun, head of AESC's China business.
--With assistance from Ma Jie.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Yan Zhang in Beijing at yzhang1044@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Lena Lee
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With assistance from Bloomberg
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