(Yicai Global) March 6 -- Shares of Guangdong Kingshine Electronic Technology and Pylon Technologies rose after the two Chinese firms announced their respective plans to build sodium-ion battery factories.

Kingshine [SHE: 300903] was trading up 2.9 percent at CNY14.35 (USD2.08) as of 1.15 p.m. today. Pylon’s stock price [SHA: 688063] rose 3.1 percent to CNY265.53 (USD38.42).

Printed circuit board maker Kingshine said late on March 3 that it had inked a letter of investment intent with the local government of Xinfeng county in Jiangxi province to build a CNY2 billion (USD289.3 million) sodium-ion battery plant with an annual capacity of 6 gigawatt-hours.

But the industry newcomer did not mention further details of the project such as the construction schedule, the source of its battery technology and fund and what its products will be used for.

Energy storage product and technology service provider Pylon announced on the same day that it plans to invest CNY220 million (USD31.8 million) to use its existing factory buildings to establish a plant in eastern China’s Yangzhou with an annual capacity of 1 GWh. Construction will last six months.

Pylon’s sodium-ion batteries have recently gained a certification from TÜV Rheinland, a German technology and certification services provider, the company added.

Sodium-ion batteries are very similar to lithium-ion batteries but are cheaper. They can be used as a substitute for lithium batteries in applications with relatively low energy density needs. The sodium-ion batteries already on the market are mainly used in the energy storage battery field and are rarely used in electric vehicles because EVs need batteries with higher energy density.

Editor: Futura Costaglione