South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI has announced the start of operations at its first electronic vehicle (EV) battery factory in Xi'an, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.
Interestingly, the starting point of the ancient Silk Road was in Xi'an, and now it has become a major point on China's Belt and Road initiative.
Cho Nam-seong, president of Samsung SDI, said during the completion ceremony of the plant that Samsung SDI will produce batteries in China, seen as the world's center for the EV battery industry, as well as try to keep pace with the country's economic development.
According to the report, China is expected to become the world's largest EV market and the factory is prepared to produce batteries to keep up with future demand. The new factory will have the entire production chain for EV batteries, from cells to modules, and will have a production capacity of 40,000 electric vehicle batteries a year.
The report said that Samsung SDI has partnered with a number of domestic carmakers for commercial and private vehicles, in addition to international OEM manufacturers.
Samsung SDI also announced plans to invest $600 million into the plant with the target revenue of $1 billion by 2020.
The latest forecast by market research firm B3 showed that sales of electric vehicles in China grew more than five times to about 80,000 units in 2014, with the number projected to surge to 240,000 units next year.
Electric carmaker Tesla is also negotiating with Chinese government officials on building electric cars in China, which is promoting reduced-emission vehicles.
Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, is betting on China's huge demand for electric cars as he projected that by 2030, more than half of newly produced vehicles in the world will be battery-powered. He expects China to take the biggest share in the EV market.