October 29 (SeeNews) - Serbian battery developer ElevenEs plans to invest 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) in the construction of a factory for the production and recycling of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in Subotica, in northern Serbia, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce said.
The company will invest 550 million euro in the first phase of the factory's development, which will be completed in 2024, the development manager of ElevenEs, Ana Perovic, said, as quoted by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.
"After the completion of the development of the first product line, a mega factory will be built that will produce 300 MWh per year. After two years, production will be expanded to 8 GWh, while after 2028 and the finalisation of the complete investment, production of 16 GWh per year is expected," Perovic said.
Last week, EIT InnoEnergy, a European early-stage investor in clean technologies, said it invested in ElevenEs to support its plans to build a gigafactory in Subotica.
ElevenEs has developed its own technology to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for EV and energy storage applications. Since October 2019, the Subotica-based company has been conducting research and development into LFP lithium-ion batteries, before opening an R&D lab in July 2021.
Serbia is said to have one of the largest lithium deposits in the world. Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto has committed $2.4 billion to the Jadar lithium-borates project in Serbia, to produce lithium carbonate, boric acid and sodium sulphate from the jadarite mineral.
($ = 0.8587 euro)