OREANDA-NEWS. Followed by the Wuhan Project, SK sent another good news from China.

SK innovation (CEO Koo Ja-chul) announced that the company signed an agreement to establish an EV battery joint venture with Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) and Beijing Electronics at Beijing City Hall.

Attendants to the ceremony were Koo Ja-young, Vice Chairman of SK innovation, Zhang Gong, Vice-mayor of Beijing, Zhang Xi Yong, General Manager of BAIC, and Wang Yen, President of Beijing Electronics.

The three companies are planning to establish a joint venture in September 2013 by investing total CNY 1 billion (KRW 190 billion). The joint venture will build a battery pack production line, which can supply batteries to 10,000 electric vehicles, in Beijing by the end of 2014, and it will expand the production capacity to batteries for 20,000 electric vehicles by 2017.

SK innovation will exclusively supply the joint venture with battery cells manufactured from the Seosan EV battery factory until the joint venture completes the production line. In addition, Beijing Electronics will be in charge of battery pack manufacturing and BAIC is planning to lead the development of electric vehicles equipped with batteries from the joint venture.

At the same time, the joint venture will expand its business territory from the battery pack production to all processes of the battery production.

An official of SK innovation said, “Through the joint venture agreement, we are able to target the China market, which has potential to become the world’s largest electric vehicle market. Based on technologies and business experiences of the three companies, the joint venture will grow as China’s No. 1 EV battery company with CNY 1.2 billion (KRW 200 billion) of annual sales revenue.”

Beyond the collaboration in the EV battery field, SK innovation suggested ‘EV Eco System Construction Project’, which will cover the complete field of electric vehicle industry.

The ‘EV Eco System’ is to construct general EV operational infrastructures for the convenience of EV drivers. The system includes construction of charging facilities and development of various operation models such as EV sharing. SK innovation has been demonstrating this system in the smart grid test complex in Jeju Island.

In regard with this, Koo Ja-young, Vice Chairman of SK innovation, said, “The joint venture will lead the China electric vehicle market through strong EV battery technologies of SK, powerful electric vehicle manufacturing capability of BAIC, and advanced electronic materials technologies of Beijing Electronics. Centered on this joint venture, we hope that SK group and Beijing City will be able to establish a partnership in the complete field of electric vehicle industry.”