(Yicai Global) July 3 -- SAIC Motor has begun construction of a CNY2 billion (USD276 million) power battery plant in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou as China’s biggest carmaker focuses increasingly on new energy vehicles.

The new plant will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 battery packs worth more than CNY10 billion after it goes into operation, SAIC said on WeChat yesterday, adding that this will accelerate the NEV transition at its Zhengzhou production base.

The Zhengzhou base is SAIC’s third after one each in Shanghai and Nanjing. It went into production in September 2017 and has made nearly 1.5 million vehicles so far.

Shanghai-based SAIC set a goal in April to sell 3.5 million NEVs a year by 2025, up 250 percent from last year.

SAIC sold 86,000 NEVs last month, a 13 percent gain on May to rank second among Chinese automakers after BYD. The company sold more than 230,000 NEVs in the second quarter, up 62 percent on the prior quarter, per data revealed on its WeChat account today.

SAIC’s shares [SHA: 600104] rose 0.8 percent to close at CNY14.28 (USD1.97) each in Shanghai today. The stock has slipped 6 percent since the end of last year.

Editor: Tom Litting