“Through mass production, we will soon lower production costs to a quarter” of what they were when the company first started making such batteries in 2009, said President Makoto Yoda.
The annual output of the factory, which is being built with Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. at a cost of ¥37.5 billion (US$471 million), will be enough to equip 50,000 Mitsubishi Motors i-MiEV electric vehicles. The plant will make batteries for the i-MiEV and Minicab-MiEV, and for i-MiEV-b ased EVs of France’s PSA Peugeot Citroën Group. A plug-in hybrid to be released in fiscal 2012 will also use batteries manufactured at the plant, according to Mitsubishi Motors President Osamu Masuko.
The partners are also building another plant at the same site for ¥30 billion (US$377 million), with the capacity to power 75,000 i-MiEVs a year.
