GS Yuasa EV Battery Venture to Hike Output 70 Percent

Reuters reported that GS Yuasa Corp. announced plans to boost production capacity by 70 percent at its automotive lithium battery joint venture with Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

As quoted in the market news:

The three will spend around 20-30 billion yen ($260 million to $390 million) on building a second factory that will be able to make 4.4 million battery cells a year — enough to power 50,000 electric vehicles, a GS Yuasa spokesman said. Auto makers have slashed electric vehicle prices as the cost of producing batteries falls, increasing appetite for pure electric cars.

The new plant, to go online around 2014 in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, would hike joint venture Lithium Energy Japan’s total output capacity to supply 120,000 electric vehicles a year.

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