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Chinese EV battery firms Eve Energy to build plant in Southeast Asia, joining big guns in expanding abroad amid domestic market slowdown

  • Eve Energy, China’s fifth-largest EV battery maker and the world’s ninth largest, will set up a US$422.3 million factory in Malaysia
  • It is the right time to develop international businesses, because competition at home is fierce, supplier of specialised batteries says

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A battery production line in Hefei, in China’s eastern Anhui province. China is home to 76 per cent of global EV battery production capacity, and six of its biggest battery producers, including Eve, made the list of the world’s top 10 players in terms of market share last year. Photo: Xinhua
Daniel Renin Shanghai
One of China’s smaller electric vehicle (EV) battery producers has announced plans to build plants in Southeast Asia, as it joins its bigger domestic competitors in tapping markets elsewhere amid lacklustre demand for electric cars in mainland China.
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Eve Energy, China’s fifth-largest EV battery maker and the world’s ninth largest, said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday evening that it would set up a US$422.3 million factory in Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia, which would focus on the development and manufacturing of cylindrical batteries.

The company, based in Huizhou, in China’s southern Guangdong province, said the investment was part of its globalisation strategy and would eventually benefit all its shareholders. The batteries will be supplied to makers of e-scooters and EVs in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, it added.

“Small EV [component] makers are also quickening the pace of overseas expansion after their technologies and products were well received by car assemblers and drivers abroad,” said Davis Zhang, a senior ­executive at Suzhou Hazardtex, a supplier of specialised vehicle batteries. “It is the right time to develop international businesses, because competition in the domestic market is fierce.”

China is home to 76 per cent of global EV battery production capacity, and six of the country’s biggest battery producers, including Eve, made the list of the world’s top 10 players in terms of market share in 2022.
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