(Yicai Global) Oct. 27 -- Gotion Hi-Tech said the Chinese electric car battery giant will invest CNY11.5 billion (USD1.6 billion) in two power battery capacity expansion projects through local units.

Gotion Hi-Tech will spend CNY6.7 billion (USD929.6 million) to build a new ternary power battery plant with an annual capacity of 20 gigawatts-hours in Hefei, Anhui province, the Volkswagen Group-backed company said yesterday.

Gotion Hi-Tech also said in a separate statement the same day that it plans to invest CNY4.8 billion in the second phase of its Liuzhou factory to increase the annual capacity of lithium iron phosphate by 10 GWh.

The Hefei plant will be built by Gotion Hi-Tech’s local wholly-owned unit in 16 months to expand the parent company’s ternary power battery capacity and enrich product structure, it added.

Completion of the second phase of the Liuzhou plant in Guangxi Autonomous Region will help further consolidate Gotion Hi-Tech’s battery business in southern China. Building work is expected to wrap up in 13 months.

German carmaker VW is Gotion Hi-Tech’s largest single investor, with a 24.8 percent stake, its third-quarter earnings report showed. Last year, VW picked Gotion Hi-Tech as a strategic supplier of standard battery cells, joining hands to develop and make products and co-build a production base in Europe.

Gotion Hi-Tech’s shares [SHE: 002074] fell 3.6 percent today to close at CNY31.72 (USD4.38). The benchmark Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.4 percent.

Editor: Martin Kadiev