(Yicai Global) Dec. 31 -- Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology plans to invest CNY24 billion (USD3.8 billion) expanding annual production capacity of power batteries at its plant in Yibin, in China’s southwestern Sichuan province.

The project will be completed in four stages, each taking 20 months, the Ningde-based company said yesterday, without revealing the size of the expansion. This is the third time that CATL has boosted the plant’s capacity since announcing its set-up in September 2019, raising the firm’s total investment in it to CNY56 billion.

CATL has also signed a contract with Geely Holding Group to supply the privately held carmaker with at least 57 gigawatt-hours of power batteries over the next five years, it said in another announcement yesterday.

Yibin will become CATL’s most important power battery plant in southwestern China and will provide its automotive partners with batteries and ancillary services nationwide and even worldwide, Chairman Zeng Yuqun said when the factory’s first stage was completed in June. It has annual capacity of 15 GWh.

In December 2018, CATL also set up a joint venture with Geely to build an CNY8 billion (USD1.3 billion) plant in Yibin with annual capacity of 12 GWh. Slated for completion next year, the factory will produce batteries for Geely’s new energy vehicles. CATL owns 51 percent of the JV.

Shares of CATL [SHE: 300750] closed down 0.3 percent at CNY588 (USD92.26) each today, after opening up 1.4 percent. The stock has soared 68 percent this year.

Editor: Futura Costaglione