With a market of more than 350 billion yuan, Chinese battery giant Turkey built a factory

　　Located at the "crossroads" of the two continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey is becoming a hot spot for Chinese companies to invest. Up to now, many manufacturers, including BYD, EVE Lithium Energy, Funeng Technology, Ganfeng Lithium, Huawei, Chery, Skyworth Automobile, SAIC, Great Wall Motor, etc., have invested or plan to invest in Turkey.

　　In order to attract more companies to invest in electric vehicles, batteries and other fields, Turkey has introduced a stimulus program with a scale of 30 billion US dollars (about 210 billion yuan). Turkey aims to build 80GWh of lithium-ion battery production capacity in its country by 2030 and expand its annual production capacity of electric vehicles to at least 1 million.

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EVE/Funeng/BYD and so on have laid out

　　"China and Turkey have great potential for cooperation in electric vehicles, lithium batteries, medicine, high-speed rail, new energy and other fields, especially Turkey's independent electric vehicle enterprises intend to join hands with Chinese companies to establish lithium battery production plants in Turkey, this in-depth cooperation will bring new opportunities for common development for both sides." Turkey's Minister of Industry and Science and Technology Kasirer said.

　　Since the beginning of this year, the frequency of investment by Chinese companies in Turkey has increased significantly. In terms of power batteries, Ganfeng Lithium announced on August 17 that its holding subsidiary Ganfeng Lithium and Turkey's YIGIT AKU plan to establish a joint venture company in Turkey, planning to jointly invest 500 million US dollars (about 3.6 billion yuan) to build a lithium battery production line and battery pack production line with a design capacity of 5GWh in Turkey. The joint venture also plans to establish a R&D center to focus on solid-state batteries, high-power batteries, marine, aerospace batteries and other projects.

　　Battery China noted that as the earliest battery company to invest and build factories in Turkey, Funeng Technology's Turkey battery factory has been put into production and began to officially supply battery products to many European car customers such as Mercedes-Benz. The plant is a joint project between Funeng Technology and TOGG, a Turkey electric vehicle company. As early as 2020, TOGG designated Funeng Technology as its power battery supplier. In September 2021, Funeng Technology and TOGG established a joint venture company, SIRO, which will develop power batteries for all TOGG products.

　　In terms of energy storage batteries, in July this year, Haichen Energy Storage and Maxxen, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kontek Energy, an engineering company in the field of renewable energy in Turkey, announced that Maxxen will become the exclusive strategic partner of Haichen Energy Storage in Turkey. In February this year, Turkey's first GWh-level energy storage project with a total investment of about 400 million US dollars was signed, which will be jointly built by Harbin Electric and Turkey company Progresiva energy, with a planned maximum reserve of 1GWh, and is expected to be put into operation in 2027.

　　In addition, EVE announced earlier this year that its subsidiary signed a memorandum of understanding with Aksa to jointly establish a joint venture company in Turkey to engage in the production, marketing and sales of battery modules, outdoor cabinets and containers, as well as the implementation of energy storage system projects in Turkey as a general contractor. In February last year, Huawei signed an agreement with five Turkey energy companies Turkey to purchase 2GWh of energy storage systems from Huawei.

　　In terms of car companies, in July this year, BYD signed an agreement with the Turkey government to invest US$1 billion (about 7.1 billion yuan) to build a production plant and R&D center with an annual output of 150,000 vehicles in Turkey, which is expected to start production in 2026. According to reports, the Turkey government has also held talks with Chery Automobile, SAIC Motor and Great Wall Motor to build a plant.

　　In addition, in June last year, Skyworth Auto and Turkey Uluba? lar Group announced the opening of a joint venture battery plant in Turkey to produce batteries with 800V+4C super fast charging technology architecture.

　　In addition to Chinese companies, LG Energy Solution and Ford Motor signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey's KOC Holdings in April this year to jointly establish a new battery manufacturing joint venture in Ankara, Turkey, which is scheduled to start production in 2026. The plant will initially have a capacity of 25GWh per annum, with the potential to expand to 45GWh per annum in the future. The plant is likely to become a major battery supplier for Ford's commercial electric vehicles in the future.

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A great opportunity for battery investment

　　Straddling the Eurasian continent, Turkey has a unique geographical advantage. With a population of 85 million, Turkey has a GDP of $1.15 trillion in 2023, making it the 11th largest economy in the world. The automotive industry plays an important role in Turkey's economy, and many global automakers, including Ford, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Fiat, etc., have production centers there.

　　Automobiles are one of Turkey's largest exports, with sales of automobiles and parts amounting to US$35.7 billion (about 260 billion yuan) in 2023. Turkey currently has a customs union with the European Union, making it an ideal base for car manufacturers to export to the EU. The largest export market for Turkey's automotive industry in 2023 is the European Union, with an export value of 23.921 billion US dollars (about 170 billion yuan).

　　At present, Turkey is increasing its efforts to develop the new energy industry. In July, Turkey launched an ambitious national plan for high-tech incentives. Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey will launch a US$30 billion (about 210 billion yuan) incentive program to focus on attracting investment in advanced technology areas such as electric vehicles, battery production, semiconductor manufacturing and energy technology.

　　For electric vehicles, the measure includes a $5 billion (about 35.6 billion yuan) package, which aims to expand Turkey's domestic electric vehicle production capacity to at least 1 million units per year. For the battery sector, Turkey plans to build 80GWh of lithium battery production capacity by 2030, making Turkey a regional battery production center, and will launch an incentive package of US$4.5 billion (about 32 billion yuan) for this purpose.

　　Official figures show that pure electric vehicle sales in Turkey will be 65,562 units in 2023, a surge of more than 800% from 2022. Electric vehicles accounted for 7.5% of total car sales in Turkey in 2023. Research institutes predict that the number of electric vehicles in Turkey is expected to increase to 180,000 by 2025. According to the country's government plan, the number of electric vehicles in Turkey will increase to 2.5 million by 2030.

　　According to industry analysis, in the next 15 years, the new energy vehicle industry will contribute at least 50 billion US dollars (about 356 billion yuan) to the Turkey economy. Chinese manufacturers investing in Turkey will reap huge returns. As Cassirer puts it, "Any decision to open an automotive plant in Turkey will present a great opportunity for Chinese companies to invest in batteries." ”

　　Moreover, Turkey can also provide a stable export path for Chinese EV and EV battery manufacturers, helping them avoid potential tariff risks while occupying a favorable strategic position in the European automotive market.