By Gabby Chen

China’s GAC Aion (广汽埃安), the new EV sub-brand of GAC, officially started the construction of its Yinpai (因湃电池) battery production base in Guangzhou’s GAC Intelligent NEV Industrial Park on December 11, according to GAC Aion.

This is the largest power battery manufacturing and energy storage project in Guangzhou, the capital city of southern China’s Guangdong Province, with the total investment up to RMB10.9 billion ($1.56 billion).

The site covers an area of about 444,000 m2 and mainly involves battery research and development, design, intelligent manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service, according to the company.

Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC Aian, said that Yinpai Battery filled the gap in the manufacturing city Guangzhou’s research and production of the battery industry, and also was the first big move in the region’s economic development in post-pandemic era.

The production site’s workshops are expected to be delivered in October 2023, with the first production line to be completed by March 2024 and the entire lines to be completed by the end of 2025, GAC Aion said.

By then, the production base can meet the battery needs of 600,000 vehicles and the annual output value will exceed RMB21 billion ($3.01 billion).

Meanwhile, the factory will bring 15,000 jobs to the region with an additional output of over RMB 180 billion ($25.79 billion), the company said.