SK Innovation Invests $2.5 Billion in Building EV Battery Plant in China

IFeng News reported on Thursday that South Korea’s SK Innovation Co., Ltd. plans to invest $2.53 billion in building a new factory for producing electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

SK Innovation is a subsidiary of SK Group and started its business in power batteries in 2005. The firm has been a major supplier for Korean brands like Kia and Hyundai. Since 2012, SK Innovation has provided batteries for SLSAMGE-Cell, the first pure electric vehicle of Mercedes-AMG.

It has now built the entire value chain required for battery making, covering electrodes, separation membranes, batteries and battery packs.

SK On, a wholly owned battery subsidiary of SK Innovation, has battery production bases in the U.S., Hungary, China and South Korea. SK On is the battery supplier for EVs made by Ford, Volkswagen and Hyundai.

In September, SK On announced plans to build a new battery plant in China with an initial investment of 1.2 trillion won (about $ 1.01 billion). In the announcement, it said that “after obtaining battery orders in the global market, SK On will build (battery) factories in the U.S., China and Hungary as a long-term growth strategy.”

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SK On said last week that its backlog of orders is about 1.6 terawatt-hours of batteries worth about 220 trillion won, which can power about 23 million electric vehicles.