Australian electic vehicle manufacturer StBattalion is investing $10 million to establish a lithium-ion battery pack manufacturing facility at Filinvest Innovation Park in New Clark City in Tarlac province.
StBattalion on Monday signed a five-year contract with Filinvest Land’s wholly-owned subsidiary FCGC for the lease of two ready built factory units with a total of 5,000 square meters of space to produce more battery packs that can store more than 1 million gigawatt-hour of electricity annually.
StBattalion founder and director Trevor St Baker said the plant would produce lithium-ion phosphate battery packs catering to residential and commercial scale battery energy storage systems for electric vehicle charging station power control and back-up.
It will target markets in the Philippines and other ASEAN countries, Australia, the United States and India.
“StB Giga Factory is positioned to capture the once in century transition towards a renewable energy electricity system, in which lithium-ion batteries are expected to play a pivotal role,” St Baker said.
“Our battery products will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve fuel independence, improve electricity reliability, decrease the grid reliance for EV charging at peak system demand times, and with major electricity cost savings for households and businesses, and transport users generally,” he said.
St Baker said the factory would start commercial operation by the first quarter of 2024 with an initial output of 150 megawatt per hour, rising to full first-stage production capacity of 1.2 gigawatt-hours by 2030.
He said while the factory is being constructed, the company is already considering the possibility of further expanding the facility.
Filinvest Land president Tristan Las Marias welcomed the entry of St Battalion, the first locator within the 120-hectare Filinvest Innovation Park.
“Filinvest Innovation Park, New Clark City warmly welcomes StBattalion as its very first locator. Their presence underscores the park’s vision as a leading sustainable business hub,” Las Marias said.