Primearth EV Energy (PEVE), a joint venture of Toyota and Panasonic, has doubled down on its expansion plan for HV (hybrid vehicle) lithium-ion battery production, announcing on July 18 to quintuple its capacity, instead of the scale of tripling in an announcement in Jan.

The latest plan calls for building two new lithium-ion battery factories on the exiting factory premises in Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan, scheduled for inauguration by 2021.

The premises now accommodate three HV NiMH (nickel-metal hybrid) battery factories. On Oct. 24, 2016, PEVE unveiled a plan to build a lithium-ion battery factory there, with annual capacity of 200,000 batteries, scheduled for launch in the second half of 2019. On Jan. 16, 2018, it further announced plan to build the second lithium-ion battery factory, also with annual capacity of 200,000 batteries, scheduled for inauguration in the first half of 2020.

In addition, PEVE is operating another lithium-ion battery factory, with 200,000-battery annual capacity as well, in Shizuoka Prefecture, for supplying to HV model Prius.

While PEVE has yet to unveil the capacities of the two factories in the latest plan, Niho Keizai Shinbun reports that the scale will reach 200,000 batteries each, meaning the total lithium-ion battery capacity of PEVE will hit 1 million batteries, five times existing level, following their inauguration.

In addition, PEVE is running three other production bases, one in Shizuoka Prefecture as well, and the other two in China, Corun Peve Automotive Battery (CPAB) and Sinogy Toyota Automotive Energy System (STAES).

PEVE announced on April 4 that CPAB will build the second HV NiMH battery factory, with annual capacity of 110,000, scheduled for launch in the first half of 2020.

With annual capacity standing at 1.6 million presently, including 1.4 million for NiMH battery and 200,000 for lithium-ion battery, PEVE's total capacity will rise to 2.5 million, after the completion of the aforementioned expansion plans.

(Photo courtesy of Mike Mozart via FlickrCC BY 2.0)