HANOI, Jan 27 - Kim Long Motor announced a joint initiative with China's BYD to establish a $130 million battery manufacturing plant focused on commercial electric vehicles in central Vietnam. Under the arrangement, Kim Long Motor will fund the site's construction while BYD is contracted to deliver comprehensive technical and technological support, according to the company's statement.
The initial site will occupy 4.4 hectares and is designed to deliver an annual production capacity of 3 gigawatt-hours (GWh). Kim Long Motor said operations are expected to begin soon, but the company did not provide a specific timetable for commissioning the plant.
Plans for a second phase envisage expanding the site footprint to 10 hectares and doubling annual output to 6 GWh. That later stage will also introduce battery production for electric passenger cars in addition to the commercial vehicle batteries produced in the first phase.
The facility's production scope in its opening phase will target batteries for commercial vehicles, explicitly including buses, trucks and minibuses. The company statement emphasizes the partnership roles: Kim Long Motor will finance construction, and BYD will be responsible for the technical and technological aspects of the manufacturing setup.
Context on the market cited by the company
The announcement noted the rapid expansion of Vietnam's electric vehicle market and identified a dominant domestic automaker leading the sector. That automaker has also recently moved into the commercial vehicle space with an electric cargo van designed for urban freight transport, signaling increased activity in both passenger and commercial EV segments in the country.
Operational details and future scope
- The initial plant: 4.4 hectares and 3 GWh annual capacity, focused on commercial-vehicle batteries.
- Second phase: expansion to 10 hectares, 6 GWh annual capacity, and inclusion of passenger car battery manufacturing.
- Roles: Kim Long finances construction; BYD provides technical and technological support.
The company reiterated that operations are expected to commence soon but did not supply an exact date for start-up. That timing remains an open element of the project as described in the statement.