Mitsubishi building larger plant for Li-ion battery production

They haven't even sold their first MiEV all electric road car yet Mitsubishi and joint venture partner GS Yuasa Corp feel the need to significantly expand their large format EV battery production capacity.

The joint venture company Lithium Energy Japan will spend over US$30 Million to build an new li-ion battery factory in Kyoto with capacity to manufacture batteries for 15,000 vehicles a year. The new plant will start shipping in late 2010.

The company had originally planned to produce batteries for 2,000 MiEVs at GS Yuasa’s main plant but with the rapid increase in demand for lower emitting vehicles, Mitsubishi Motors recently doubled its planned MiEV production for fiscal 2011 to 20,000 following an agreement to supply the car to France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen Group.