Brief: Thai energy company launches ambitious battery factory project

Tesla CEO Elon Musk explaining Gigafactory 1. Photo credit: Steve Jurvetson.

The news:

• Bangkok renewable energy company Energy Absolute is planning to build a lithium-ion (li-ion) battery production facility in Asia. Thailand and three other countries in the region are being considered to host the factory, which Energy Absolute’s deputy CEO Amorn Sapthaweekul claims could eventually be worth US$2.9 billion. 
• The plan is for the project’s first phase – which is scheduled to launch late next year – to reach a production capacity of one gigawatt-hour (gWh) per year, which will be scaled up to 50gWh annually by 2020.

Why it matters:

• Should it go ahead, the project would pit little-known Energy Absolute – which started out as a biofuel producer – head-to-head with major li-ion battery manufacturers like LG Chem, Daimler, and Tesla.
• Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada began production of li-ion cells back in January, and expects to surpass its projected output of 35gWh per year in 2018.
• If Energy Absolute’s proposals for a Thai “gigafactory” get off the ground, the kingdom would be second only to China in terms of worldwide lithium-ion battery production volume.

Source: Bloomberg