Samsung SDI is planning to expand its battery factory at its facility in Goed, Hungary, within the year, TheElec has learned.
The South Korean battery maker is planning to expand its second factory (the building of which was called stage one internally; the expansion is called stage two) to manufacture batteries with diameters of 46mm.
Sources said customer BMW has requested that Samsung SDI manufacture 46120 batteries (46mm in diameter, 120mm in length).
BMW is building an electric vehicle factory at nearby Debrecen, which is around 3 hours' driving distance from Samsung SDI’s factory.
Samsung SDI is expected to spend 500 billion won for the expansion to add two production lines for an annual capacity of 10GWh.
Meanwhile, the battery maker is also expected to manufacture 4680 and 4695 batteries.
Tesla popularized 4680 batteries and more EV makers are moving to use the specification as well.
Samsung SDI is also expected to develop 4680 batteries first then add 4695 and 46120 batteries, the sources said.
It has a pilot line for the batteries at Cheonan in South Korea and is expected to make them in Malaysia as well.
