China BAK Announces Plans for New Facility to Manufacture New Products
China BAK Battery, Inc. announced plans to construct a new facility that will focus on product development and manufacture of an advanced lithium ion battery cell product line. The facility will be owned and operated by BAK's new indirect wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary.
The new subsidiary, BAK International (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., will be located in Tianjin Beichen Hi-Tech Industrial Park. Tianjin is a coastal city in northeast China. This prestigious industrial park is a business development project of the State Council of The People's Republic of China whereby the Council provides government policy incentives to private industry. BAK believes that the location offers several advantages including ample human resources, excellent shipping and logistics, proximity to customers and vendors and available manufacturing support resources. The project also affords China BAK certain tax abatements.
The new battery cells will provide higher energy density and power, longer life cycle and shorter charge times as compared to other types of lithium- based batteries. The initial customer development programs will focus on applications in Light Electric Vehicles, or LEVs, and Uninterruptible Power Supply. Among the most prevalent products in the LEV space is the electric bicycle. The planned products from this new facility also have potential application in hybrid electric vehicles.
The timing of the construction of the new facility will be dependent on the progress of our customer development programs. Historically, China BAK has endeavored to add manufacturing infrastructure as sales opportunities become clearly defined. The earliest potential shipment from the newly planned facility is fiscal 2008, and will become more certain as business development activities, and construction of the Tianjin facility progress.
"The formation of the BAK International (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. reflects the continuing evolution and development of China BAK's battery cell business, and we look forward to introducing many more high quality and innovative products in the future," commented Xiangqian Li, the President and Chief Executive Officer of China BAK. "Our new line of battery cells, which we expect to manufacture once our new Tianjin facility is completed, is a logical extension of our current product mix, it expands the market applications we serve and should strengthen our position as the worldwide market leader in lithium-based batteries cells."
