Turkey Joint Venture With China Builds Car Battery Factory

Cooperation illustration (photo: Doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A joint venture from Turkey (Turkeye) and China began construction of a new automotive battery manufacturing plant on Monday, April 24. The location is in northwestern Turkey with a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

SIRO, a joint venture between China-based Farasis Energy and electric car manufacturer Turkey Togg, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new SIRO Battery Development and Production Campus in the city of Gemlik in the northwestern Exchange province.

This new facility will start operating in 2026 and become an integrated center that produces Lithium-ion batteries, modules and packaging Nickel Manganese Cobalt.

"We are taking steps to make Turkey a strong player in battery technology," Erdogan said in his opening remarks.

"Turkeye will be one of the few countries capable of developing and producing battery cells," he added.

He said that this investment would add 33 billion US dollars to GDP in 10 years and create 7,000 jobs.

"We are showing our support by offering 30 billion lira (1.55 billion US dollars) in fixed investments," he added, "and we will continue to support anyone who contributes to the Turkish economy, both foreign and domestic," Erdogan said.

The SIRO facility will be located just next to the Togg Technology Campus, which has started producing batteries for Turkey's first electric vehicle. Founded in 2018 and supported by the country, Togg is highly valued by Erdogan as a prestige project to eliminate Turkey's dependence on foreign automakers.

Farasis Energy operates two production facilities in the provinces of Ganzhou and Zhenjiang in China.