Battery maker Svolt's Thai plant starts mass production

Svolt's plant in Thailand kicked off mass production on Wednesday, as the Chinese battery maker revs up global presence.

The battery maker, a subsidiary of Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motor, started construction on the Sriracha Chonburi-based plant in July 2023.

Svolt said deliveries of the plant's products have begun, which will soon be installed in NEV models from Great Wall Motor as well as Neta, a brand of Chinese NEV startup Hozon.

Its products are mainly 60 kW/h battery packs that can power electric vehicles to run for over 500 km on one charge. Svolt said it expects to deliver around 20,000 battery packs this year.

The Thailand plant is a joint venture between Svolt's Thai subsidiary and Banpu NEXT, which is a subsidiary of international energy giant Banpu Group.

Earlier this week, Svolt said it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Banpu NEXT to deepen their partnership. The two companies aim to deepen their localized cooperation in the fields of energy storage, battery cells, and recycling, it said.

Headquartered in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, Svolt was established in 2018. Originally the power battery division of Great Wall Motor, it started power battery research and development in 2012.