News Roundup for New Energy Market

SHANGHAI, Nov 15 (SMM) – A weekly update on the trending stories from the New Energy sector.

1. Jinyuan EP issued an announcement on November 8 that the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Jinzangyuan Lithium signed the equity transfer agreement with Tibet Jintai Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., and Liyuan Mining, and the subsidiary will acquire 51% of the shares held by shareholders of Liyuan Mining for 510 million yuan. Liyuan Mining boasts two salt lake mining rights in Tibet, namely Chapocuo Salt Lake in Gaize County and Baqiancuo Salt Lake in Geji County.

At present, the progress of salt lake mining in Tibet is relatively slow, and the main mining areas are still in the infrastructure construction stage. The salt lake resources that can supply the market will be commissioned in H2 2023 the earliest. Therefore, the short-term shortage of lithium resources cannot be alleviated.

2. Evergrande Automobile announced on November 10 that the placement of 175 million new shares will be launched to raise 500 million Hong Kong dollars, which will be used exclusively for Hengchi NEVs’ R&D and manufacturing. The Hong Kong stock market has been sluggish recently. Evergrande Auto has completed allotment fundraising, indicating that investors are still confident in its future development. Evergrande Auto still has considerable attractiveness in the capital market.

The company intends to use the proceeds collected specifically for the development and manufacturing of NEVs. The fundraising will lay the foundation for the smooth commissioning of Hengchi new energy vehicles. The company's workers said that the company has begun trial production of Hengchi 5LX. Evergrande Motors had already held a strategic partnership meeting at the Tianjin production base to ensure that the first Hengchi 5 vehicle would be rolled off the Tianjin plant early next year. The fundraising enables Evergrande to ensure the successful and smooth running of NEV businesses.

3. SK On, a subsidiary of South Korea's SKI battery plant, decided to invest 3 trillion won (about 16.2 billion yuan) to build the fourth factory in China, which is also the first wholly-owned battery factory in the region. The power battery plants of SK On with an annual production capacity of 7GWh, 10GWh, and 10GWh, respectively in Changzhou, Yancheng and Huizhou have been in production. The Changzhou plant is a joint venture with BAIC, and the plants in Yancheng and Huizhou are joint ventures with EVE Energy.

SKI’s current battery backlog orders have reached 1600GWh, which is equivalent to around 220 trillion won and can power about 23 million electric vehicles. SK On decided to build a fourth factory in China due to strong demand and the backlog of orders. The factory will be its largest battery plant in China, and it plans to officially start construction next year. According to SKI's planning, the current annual battery capacity of 40GWh will be expanded to 85GWh in 2023, 220GWh in 2025, and more than 500GWh in 2030.