(Yicai Global) Aug. 16 -- BYD will become the third Chinese power battery maker to build a production base at a cost of CNY28.5 billion (USD4.2 billion) in Yichun, a city in China’s Jiangxi province, after Contemporary Amperex Technology and Gotion High-Tech

The plant will have the capacity to produce 30 gigawatt-hours and 100,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate and ceramic clay a year, the Yichun city government said yesterday.

Yichun has proven lithium oxide reserves of about 2.5 million tons, and expects its lithium battery industry to exceed CNY800 billion (USD117.8 billion) by 2025, accounting for more than one-third of China’s lithium salt outpu

CATL invested CNY13.5 billion last year for the first phase of a new lithium battery production and manufacturing base in Yichun

Gotion’s local unit Yichun Gotion Hi-Tech Battery plans to build a 30-GWh power battery base in two phases in the city. The first, with an annual capacity of 15 GWh, is expected to start production by the end of the year. Its lithium project started construction last December, with a planned annual output of 50,000 tons of lithium carbonate.

In July, China’s power battery output and installed capacity jumped 172 percent and 114 percent to 47.2 GWh and 24.2 GWh, respectively, from a year earlier, according to data released by the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance on Aug. 11.

The installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries surpassed that of ternary lithium batteries, and the number is still growing. BYD's lithium iron phosphate unit Fudi Battery overtook CATL, ranking first with 6 GWh of installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries and a market share of nearly 42 percent.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione