BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Sunwoda Electronic plans to build a power battery factory in Hungary for electric vehicles, with initial investment of up to 1.96 billion yuan ($274.71 million), as Chinese battery makers expand in the European market.
The money will be used for purposes including land purchase, project construction and equipment procurement, Sunwoda said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Sunwoda, a smaller player among Chinese battery makers, counts Xpeng, Mercedes and Guangzhou Automobile Group among its biggest clients.
Its move comes as Chinese battery suppliers shake up Europe’s e-mobility supply chains by setting themselves up on the continent.
Chinese market leader Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) is building a 7.3 billion euro ($8.13 billion) battery plant, also in Hungary, following its first European production site in Germany.
EVE Energy announced in June that it would set up a plant in Hungary with investment of up to 9.97 billion yuan to make large cylinder batteries.
($1 = 7.1380 Chinese yuan renminbi)
($1 = 0.8977 euros)
(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Zhang Yan and Ryan Woo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Emma Rumney)
