(Yicai Global) May 16 -- Shares of Veken Technology surged after the Chinese battery maker said it will raise CNY300 million (USD43.1 million) from select investors to build a CNY682 million (USD99 million) plant to make batteries that are more affordable than lithium ones.

Veken’s stock price [SHA: 600152] closed 3.1 percent up at CNY9.99 (USD1.40) after jumping as much as 7.4 percent intraday.

The manufacturer of batteries for consumer electronics will raise CNY300 million via private placement and add that to its earlier financing of CNY200 million for the sodium-ion battery project in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, the Ningbo-based firm said in a statement yesterday. 

The factory will have an annual capacity of two gigawatt-hours of batteries used in vehicles with relatively low range requirements, such as electric two-wheelers and A00-grade electric vehicles or mini cars. Sodium-ion batteries are much cheaper than lithium batteries as the cathode material is more widely available but they are still less energy-efficient despite the latest leaps in development. 

Construction has already begun and the facility is expected to be fully ready by August 2024. The output addition should drive new sales of about CNY1.6 billion (USD229.7 million) per year, and the payback period is almost seven years, including the construction time. 

Veken, one of China’s top five suppliers of lithium batteries for computer, communication, and consumer products, has started expanding its product portfolio in electric vehicles in recent years and it has been developing sodium batteries since 2019.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi