Gotion rolls out first battery packs from its Fremont facility in US

Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion High-tech recently announced the official roll-out of battery packs off the production line at the its Fremont factory in the United States, marking the official start of company's "Made in USA" initiative. 

The development is considered as an important step for Gotion after its announced foray into batteries and materials in Illinois and Michigan in the US. The Fremont facility is located in Silicon Valley, with a planned production capacity of 1 GWh. It is the brand's first battery pack production line in the country, equipped with an automation rate of 85 percent. 

The battery packs assembled here at Fremont are targeted at North America's ESS market, mainly producing portable energy storage products and residential energy storage products with capacities ranging from 3 kWh to 30 kWh. 

In addition, the factory will continue to make efforts in areas such as technological and product innovation, customer development, service upgrades and production capacity arrangements, aiming to provide reliable, safe power battery systems and integrated energy storage systems for its customers, according to Gotion. 

Gotion claims to have established this facility as per its strategic guideline of "In local, for local". Li Chen, SVP of Gotion and President of Gotion Americas Business, said that Silicon Valley is a core innovation hub.

"For the past decade, we have consistently adhered to a three-in-one strategy featuring localized R&D, localized manufacturing, and localized marketing. From the initial development of battery management systems to the present battery factory, we have encountered numerous challenges and tests".

"Today, we have made a name for ourselves in the Americas market, and with the help of the Illinois battery factory and Michigan material factory, Gotion will work together with customers to build a localized and diversified supply chain system characterized by a full value chain", Chen said.

Gotion is one of the very few Chinese battery makers exploring localized manufacturing of battery packs in the US at the time of worsening geo-political risks. The company's investments on local production are gradually taking shape, and are expected to strengthen the North American EV and ESS battery supply chains.

The company's upcoming $2.36 billion battery materials plant in Big Rapids, Michigan is expected to produce 150,000 tons of cathode material and 50,000 tons of anode material annually.

Gotion's Illinois plant, on the other hand, will focus on battery pack production and energy storage system integration, targeting 10 GWh of battery packs and 40 GWh of battery cells.