Gov’t to support first car battery factory
ANKARA
Turkey’s Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG) and Chinese battery giant Farasis will establish a plant in the Marmara province of Bursa’s Gemlik district, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank has said.
The plant, which is going to be the first car battery factory in Turkey, will provide jobs to 2,200 people, including 400 highly-qualified employees, he said on Dec. 18.
“It’s a huge step for our automotive industry, which has a production capacity of 2 million and makes exports more than $30 billion.
SiRo, a joint venture of TOGG and Farasis, will produce 15 gigawatt/hour battery cells and modules,” said Varank.
Farasis will supply TOGG the key part of Turkey’s $2.8 billion endeavor to produce its own automobile brand. A delegation of TOGG and Farasis presented investment plans to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Varank in October. TOGG chair Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, who is also the president of Turkey’s Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), and Farasis founder Keith Kepler led the delegation.
The new company is named after the historical Silk Road. The Belt and Road Initiative, formerly known as One Belt One Road, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations.
The battery plant project will be supported by the Turkish government, according to a presidential decree
published in the Official Gazette on Dec. 18.
The total fixed investment amount is estimated at 30 billion Turkish Liras ($1.8 billion), according to the decree.
TOGG’s production facility will be established on an area of 1.2 million square meters in Gemlik and it will have the manufacturing capacity of 175,000 units annually.
In the first phase, TOGG will produce C-segment sport utility vehicle (SUV), followed by C-segment sedan, C-segment hatchback, B-segment SUV and C-segment multi-purpose vehicle.
TOGG was established in 2018 under the leadership of TOBB by companies of Anadolu Group, BMC, Root Group, Turkcell and the Zorlu Group via a collaboration.
Electric cars produced by TOGG are expected to hit the roads in 2022, two years before being exported to European markets.
The prototype of Turkey’s electric car will be exhibited at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas next month.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Eti Maden Lithium Production Plant in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir will
help prevent annually $20 million lithium imports. The plant’s initial lithium production from boron sources will start on a small scale of 10 tons per year.
However, when fully operational, the plant will be producing nearly 600 tons annually in the coming years, which will meet half of the country’s lithium demand.
The lithium produced at this plant is projected to be used in components in TOGG’s electric cars.
An NMC (Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt Oxide) cathode will be used in the car’s lithium-ion batteries, which optimizes energy and power density.
Pouch type cells with high energy density will be used in the battery modules which will be enclosed with aluminum coverage to provide high structural strength, according to TOGG.
Maximum battery life, performance and safety will be ensured with highly efficient liquid cooling and innovative battery management system.
The battery’s modular structure can be used in many areas, especially energy storage.
TOGG cars will have 300/500-kilometer (186/310 miles) range and their batteries can be charged up to 80 percent in less than 30 minutes.