(Yicai Global) Nov. 21 -- Construction work has begun in Vietnam on Gotion High-tech’s third overseas factory, which is also the Southeast Asian country’s first plant for the production of lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Covering an area of 14 hectares, the USD275 million project broke ground on Nov. 18, the Volkswagen-backed company said its WeChat social media account on Nov. 19. Gotion will have a 51 percent stake in the plant, while Vietnam’s largest private firm VinGroup and its auto startup VinFast will own the rest.

The first phase of the project, which will have a production capacity of 5 gigawatt-hours, is expected to come on stream late next year and begin mass production in the third quarter of 2024. The plant’s output will meet the needs of VinFast’s new energy vehicles.

Known as the ‘Tesla of Vietnam,’ VinFast joined hands with Gotion on lithium iron phosphate batteries in August 2021. Last month, it partnered with Gotion rival Contemporary Amperex Technology on cell-to-pack tech and CATL’s integrated intelligent chassis skateboard projects.

Founded in 2017, VinFast acquired General Motors’ vehicle assembly line in Vietnam in 2018 and kept on most GM employees.

Hefei-based Gotion mainly produces lithium iron phosphate batteries. It plans to have lithium battery production capacity of 300 GWh by 2025. One-third of the total will be overseas, mainly plants in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.

In the first nine months of the year, Gotion’s battery installment capacity was 9.9 GWh, ranking eighth worldwide with a 2.9 percent market share, according to data from SNE Research.

Gotion’s shares [SHE: 002074] ended little changed today, up 0.2 percent at CNY32.57 (USD4.55).

Editor: Futura Costaglione