(Yicai Global) Dec. 22 -- BYD, one of China’s biggest electric vehicle makers, is to invest CNY6 billion (USD917 million) to build a power battery production base in Bengbu, eastern Anhui province with an annual output of 20 Gigawatt hours, hiking its current capacity by 50 percent.

The new plant will be a strategic production base for new energy battery cells and modules for BYD in eastern China, according to an agreement signed between the Shenzhen-based firm and the Bengbu government yesterday. Construction of the first phase, which will cost around CNY3 billion (USD458 million), should start this year.

Once fully up and running, the factory should have an output value of CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) a year. Power batteries are core components used by BYD in its electric vehicles, monorails and shuttle trains.

BYD already runs six battery factories in Shenzhen in southeastern Guangdong province, Xi’an in central Shaanxi province, Chongqing in southwestern Sichuan province, Changsha in central Hunan province, Guiyang in southwestern Guizhou province and another in western Qinghai province. Together they have an annual production capacity of 40 GWhs. This is expected to reach 100 GWs by 2022.

Editor: Kim Taylor