Vietnam's auto manufacturer to establish $130 million EV battery plant with China's BYD

HANOI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Vietnam auto manufacturer Kim Long Motor said on Tuesday that it ​was partnering with China's BYD to develop ‌a $130 million plant to produce batteries for commercial electric vehicles ‌in central Vietnam.

Under the agreement, Kim Long Motor will fund the construction of the facility, while BYD will provide comprehensive technical and technological support, the ⁠company said in ‌a statement.

The plant will be on a 4.4 hectare plot of land and ‍will have a capacity of 3 gigawatt-hours per year, Kim Long Motor said in a statement.

The company stated that ​operations are expected to commence soon, but ‌it did not give an exact timeline.

In its second phase, the facility will expand to 10 hectares and double its production capacity to 6 GWh per year. The expansion will also introduce battery ⁠production for electric passenger cars.

The ​plant will produce batteries for ​commercial vehicles, including buses, trucks, and minibuses.

Vietnam's EV market is rapidly expanding, led by ‍domestic automaker ⁠VinFast, which dominates the sector.

VinFast recently entered the commercial vehicle segment with the launch of ⁠its electric cargo van, the EC Van, designed to support ‌sustainable urban freight transport.

(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen; ‌Editing by David Stanway)