Lithium Energy Japan, Shiga headed joint venture to manufacture large-size lithium ion battery (LIB), announced on Tuesday the firm doubles output capacity of automotive LIB at Ritto plant in Shiga, Japan. The output capacity will increase by 1.2GWh, that equals to 6.5 million cells of the firm’s 50Ah LIB “LEV50” and 75,000 units of Mitsubishi Motors’ electric vehicle “i-MiEV.” The commercial shipment will start in 2Q 2013. The investment totals approximately 30 billion yen.
In Ritto plant site, a factory and a test center with floor space of total 61,000 square meters are in preparation for commencement of commercial production in April 2012. In the second phase, an additional factory with floor space of 50,000 square meters is scheduled to complete in August 2012 and productive facilities will be installed toward commercial shipment in 2Q 2013. Ritto plant will have total 1,100 employees after the capacity expansion. Lithium Energy Japan’s LIB output capacity will total 2.3 GWh (adoptable to 150,000 units of i-MiEV), 2GWh at Ritto plant and the rest covered at Kusatsu plant in Shiga, Japan and Kyoto plant in Kyoto, Japan.