(Yicai Global) Feb. 8 -- Chinese electric vehicle battery giant Gotion Hi-Tech and European peer InoBat have agreed to set up a joint venture to build a gigafactory and explore ways to revolutionize EV battery and energy storage technologies.

Under a non-binding deal signed on Feb. 5, the pair will co-develop a plant that can turn out 40 gigawatt-hours of battery cells and packs a year, with Central and Eastern Europe one of the regions under consideration for the project, Hefei-based Gotion Hi-Tech said yesterday.

The two firms also agreed to give full play to their advantages in lithium iron phosphate and nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries, co-develop the potential for energy storage system battery production at InoBat’s existing facilities in Slovakia, and look at recycling concepts for production scrap and end of life batteries.

Gotion Hi-Tech is joining hands with InoBat to innovate battery-related technologies, localized production in Europe, and battery cell recycling, said Steven Cai, Gotion senior vice president and head of its General Research Institute of Engineering.

The partnership will help Gotion High-Tech achieve its goal of reaching an overseas capacity of 100 GWh by 2025 and spur the firm’s internationalization, he added.

Shares of Gotion High-Tech [SHE: 002074] closed up 2 percent at CNY32.82 (USD4.84) today, giving the company a market capitalization of CNY58.4 billion (USD8.61 billion).

Founded in 2019, Slovakia-based InoBat is a pioneering battery maker that researches, develops, manufactures, and recycles power packs. In January last year, the firm secured investment from Hangzhou-based new energy tech firm Ideanomics. The proceeds helped it finish building its research and development center and pilot battery factory in Slovakia before the end of 2022.

Editor: Futura Costaglione