Chinese-Russian JV opens Li-ion battery plant in Siberia

NOVOSIBIRSK (Interfax) -- Liotech, a joint venture between China's Thunder Sky and OJSC Rusnano, on Thursday launched the first phase of a lithium-ion battery plant in the Novosibirsk Region, an Interfax correspondent reported from the ribbon cutting ceremony.

The plant will produce three types of batteries -- 200, 300 and 700 ampere-hours -- and will have total capacity to produce 400 million ampere-hours per year. The first phase will produce 5 million ampere-hours per month, or 60 million per year.

For the first few years, all of the plant's output will be shipped to China. Sales of the batteries in Russia will be handled by LLC Mobil.

"In beginning this project, we understood that all existing production facilities in our country related to the battery industry are obsolete. It was clear that a large-scale, groundbreaking, modern project was needed. I am pleased that we are standing in a unique production complex, seeing unique equipment, launching production of a unique product," Rusnano chief executive Anatoly Chubais said at the opening.

He said the construction of the facility, including installation, setup and launch of the equipment, took 18 months.

"This facility is one of the best in the world in terms of equipment and product. We analyzed everything there is in the world, including what is being manufactured in the United States and Silicon Valley, and decided to select Chinese company Thunder Sky as our partner," Chubais said.

He said there was "incredible demand" for the plant's product. A number of regions, including Novosibirsk Region, are already interested in the venture's products, despite the fact that it will not be selling to the Russian market for the first few years.

The plant is expected to have output of 24 billion to 40 billion rubles in 2015, Chubais said. "The product that is made here is at the highest standards in the world. We intend to increase production from 2012 through 2015, doubling annually. Production will total about 9 billion-10 billion rubles in 2012. The minimum target for 2015 is 24 billion rubles and the maximum target is 40 billion rubles," he said.

The company aims to have a 10-15% share of the world battery market in 2015.

Lithium-ion batteries used in vehicles have a lifespan five to seven years, or 600,000 km, and a single charge is enough to travel 350 km. In the power sector, Li-ion batteries can have a service life of up to 30 years.

Liotech reckons that switching buses and trucks in major cities to electric power could reduce harmful emissions by 44%.

Rusnano and Thunder Sky in April 2010 signed a package of documents regulating the creation of the Li-ion joint venture in Novosibirsk based on the Chinese company's technology.

Rusnano contributed 2.09 billion rubles directly to the venture's charter capital, asNike React Element