(Yicai) Sept. 30 -- Pret Composites, a Chinese supplier of composite materials that has expanded into the energy storage business, plans to invest CNY800 million (USD112.3 million) to build a sodium-ion battery plant to promote the industrial production and large-scale application of this new battery type.

Located in Neijiang, China’s southwestern Sichuan province, the factory will have a production line for sodium-ion cylindrical batteries and one for sodium-ion prismatic and other types of sodium-ion batteries, with a total annual capacity of 6 gigawatt-hours, the Shanghai-based firm announced yesterday.

The project will be built in two phases, according to Pret. The first one will have an annual production capacity of 2 GWh and an investment of CNY300 million, expected to be completed in six months. The second one will begin construction within 24 months after the commissioning of the first phase.

An industry fund controlled by the local government plans to invest a total of CNY90 million (USD12.6 million) in the project, which will be used exclusively for the construction of the first phase, Pret noted.

Pret launched its sodium-ion battery business in 2022. A variety of sodium-ion battery cells and modules developed by the company have already been verified by leading downstream customers, entered their supply chains, and obtained large-scale orders.

For example, Pret’s sodium-ion battery products have been commercially applied in the 1.5-ton electric forklifts developed by Komatsu, a Japanese maker of construction, mining, and forestry equipment.

Sodium-ion batteries are very similar to lithium-ion batteries. Even though their energy storage capacity is not as good as that of lithium-ion batteries, they are cheaper to produce because their main electrode materials are sodium salts and have better safety and low-temperature performance features.

Pret’s shares [SHE: 002324] were trading up 0.2 percent at CNY14.69 (USD2.06) as of 2.40 p.m. in Shenzhen today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione