VinFast Trading and Production Ltd (a subsidiary of Vingroup) and LG Chem Ltd (a subsidiary of South Korean LG Group) on April 5, 2019 officially announced the establishment of their joint-venture company for battery pack production following international standards. The plant is located in VinFast’s Supplier Park in the northern port city of Hải Phòng. In the initial period, the factory will provide batteries for VinFast’s electric scooters and electric cars.
Covering an area of more than 12,000 square metres, the plant is one of a number of factories producing support-industry spare parts on a large scale at VinFast’s complex. The joint venture aims to produce lithium-ion battery packs for VinFast’s electric scooters that are being made now and electric cars to be produced in the future.
VinFast will be responsible for building warehouses and production lines, employing human resources and operating the plant. LG Chem will provide technical consultancy for the warehouses and equipment, supervise operations, train workers, and transfer technologies and designs.
Currently, LG Chem holds many world-leading battery technologies. The establishment of the joint-venture company is one of the important steps to increase the localization rate in VinFast’s electric vehicles, thus contributing to the development of the support industry in Vietnam.
The joint-venture company aims to provide premium products that meet international standards and environmentally-friendly criteria. With the long-term experience of LG Chem in the field of lithium-ion battery production, VinFast’s battery-powered electric vehicles will be optimally guaranteed in terms of usage efficiency and prices suitable to the Vietnamese market.
In a speech delivered at the announcement ceremony, Võ Quang Huệ, deputy general director of Vingroup, said: “The partnership with LG Chem to establish the battery production joint-venture factory in VinFast’s plant complex is one of the important steps to ensure that VinFast’s electric scooters and electric cars will use batteries with high usage efficiency at suitable prices. This will also be an important beginning step in building a complete ecosystem for a made-in-Vietnam automobile and e-scooter manufacturing industry, which VinFast is aiming for.”
In addition to producing the lithium-ion battery packs for electric cars and scooters, the joint-venture factory plans to supply the lithium-ion battery cells for electric devices and other products belonging to Vingroup’s ecosystem in the future.
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About LG Chem:
Established in 1947, LG Chem employs more than 34,000 staffs across the world. It operates four main businesses including Petrochemicals, Energy Solutions, Advanced Materials and Life Sciences. The chemical business manufactures a wide range of products from petrochemical goods to high-value added plastics. It has also extended its chemical expertise into hi-tech areas such as lithium-ion batteries, advanced materials and drugs & vaccines. Throughout 20 years of experience in development and production of rechargeable batteries, LG Chem has established itself as one of the world’s leading lithium-ion manufacturers. The company is a primary supplier of lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones and hybrid/electric vehicle industries throughout the world.
About VinFast:
VinFast is a subsidiary of Vingroup, the largest private enterprise in Vietnam, established in 2017. VinFast is developing a wide range of electric cars and electric scooters, headquartered in Cát Hải - Hải Phòng. On November 3, 2018, VinFast introduced its first electric scooter named Klara with a version using a lithium-ion battery and another using a lead battery. On March 6, 2019, VinFast completed the pilot manufacturing of its first car, Lux SA2.0, and shipped to foreign countries for quality and safety tests. The car is expected to be available for sale in the market by the second or third quarter of 2019.