(Yicai) Sept. 18 -- Gotion High-Tech has begun making battery packs at its automated plant in Göttingen, Germany and expects deliveries to clients in Europe to commence at the start next month, the Chinese electric vehicle battery giant said on its WeChat account today.

“The production line at the Göttingen plant is highly automated at a rate of over 70 percent in general, but more than 80 percent in the module process,” said Chen Ruilin, vice president of Gotion’s international business. The factory employs 200 workers.

A lot of orders have been received from European clients and the supply of batteries will start next month, said Peter Willemsen, chief operating officer of Gotion Global and managing director of Gotion Germany, adding that the plant will have a production capacity of 5 gigawatt-hours a year by the middle of next year.

Shares of the Hefei-based Gotion [SHE: 002074] closed up 2 percent at CNY23.72 (USD3.26) apiece in Shenzhen today.

The plant’s battery packs will be used in commercial and passenger vehicles as well as energy storage systems, Willemsen said. The plant will also serve as Gotion’s center for research, development, logistics, and after-sales service in Europe, he added.

The aim is for production capacity to reach 20 GWh a year, which will be completed in four stages, said Cai Yi, Gotion’s chief technology officer, adding that the plant will likely achieve an output value of EUR2 billion (USD2.1 billion) annually when the four stages are completed.

Gotion also revealed that on Sept. 16 it penned cooperation agreements with five global companies. It will continue to cooperate on battery materials with BASF China and it struck a partnership with ABB Group for the supply of batteries and technology development. ABB’s automation products will also help Gotion to develop its plants in Europe and the United States.

Gotion also reached a deal with Dutch electric bus maker Ebusco on developing and producing energy storage battery systems as well as wind and solar energy storage batteries, and it formed a partnership with Spain-based Ficosa and Idneo for joint development of smart mobile energy storage charging vehicles, battery banks, battery recycling, battery management systems and big data engineering.

Editor: Tom Litting