Vingroup (VIC.HM), Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, announced on Sunday that it has begun construction on a $174 million battery cell plant for its VinFast electric vehicle division, allowing the company to control its whole battery supply chain.
When its gasoline-powered cars bearing its own badge reached the streets in 2019, VinFast became the country’s first fully complete local car manufacturer.
“This is in the focus of VinFast’s localization strategy of supply,” said Thai Thi Thanh Hai, vice-chair of Vingroup and vice-chair of the board of VinFast.
“The strategy enables us to own our supply chain of batteries and parts.”
The company said it is looking to produce 100,000 battery packs per year in the first phase and then upgrade its capacity to one million.
It did not elaborate on the project’s time frame in detail but based on October’s report, the project would run at full capacity from 2025.
VinFast is collaborating with a number of battery partners, including StoreDot, Gotion High-Tech, and ProLogium, as well as focusing on internal R&D and developing research centers to develop battery and charging technologies, according to a statement sent to Reuters by the business.
Vingroup announced last week that it plans to list in the United States in the second part of next year.
