LG Chem announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding to build a factory for electrical vehicle batteries in China. The factory’s annual capacity can fulfill the demand of more than 100K electrical vehicles, while LG Chem’s overall utilization rate will increase above 40%. Since Electrical vehicle is a type of new-generation vehicles, the competition among Japanese companies, such as LG, Samsung, SDI, and Panasonic, will be more intense within the battery area.

Chinese state-owned corporations - Nanjing Zijin Technology Incubation Special Park Construction Development Co Ltd and Nanjing New Industrial Investment Group Ltd - will enter a joint venture with LG Chem before this August and will start the construction for the factory in September. The construction is expected to be completed by 2015. Both Chinese state-owned corporations and LG Chem have invested hundreds of millions of dollars, hoping to increase the factory’s annual utilization rate by 2020.

Batteries produced from the factory will not only supply major Chinese car companies, such as SAIC, FAW, and Changan Automobile, rumor has it that GM has placed orders for more than 100K car batteries.