Volvo Construction Equipment invest in Battery pack production at South Korea
Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has recently announced an investment of SEK 80 million ($ 7.8 million) into battery pack production at its excavator plant in Changwon, South Korea, thereby affirming its ambition to drive industry transformation with sustainable solutions.
The Changwon plant specializes in the production of excavators, and is currently the biggest excavator production site for Volvo CE. The latest investment will enable the plant to begin manufacturing a wide range of battery pack solutions for the Volvo Group.
According to the company's press statement, production of common electric storage solutions (battery packs) for the brand at the South Korean facility is being envisaged, so as to become a core competence center for electric excavators.
This will enable Volvo Group to offer more sustainable solutions to its APAC markets in a more flexible, cost-effective and agile way and will include supply chain, manufacturing and logistics, the statement added.
Andy Knight, Head of Operations Excavator and Managing Director of Volvo Group Korea, commented, "As the largest plant in Volvo CE and the core site for excavator development and production, Changwon is at the forefront of our shift to a sustainable future".
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"This investment is an important milestone in our electrification roadmap and supports our recent investments in production facilities for electric excavators. Changwon is ideally located close to battery module supply partners and other key suppliers in South Korea to meet the needs of customers in the future. We are also home to a highly skilled and motivated workforce who are fully committed to meeting our future environmental targets", he added.
The building work is set to begin in April 2023, with battery pack production expected to commence in June 2024. Volvo CE has said that the new production facility will be built inside the current component workshop at Changwon – without disruption to the existing operation.
Volvo CE is committed to becoming completely fossil free by 2040. Just last month, the company announced the an investment into the production of electric wheel loaders from its plant in Arvika, Sweden. It has also committed SEK 360 million (approximately $32.7million) investment to accelerate the phased shift towards electromobility for its articulated haulers.
The equipment manufacturer has already introduced compact electric excavators to the global market with the ECR25 Electric, ECR18 Electric, EC18 Electric and the mid-size EC230 Electric excavators. Together with its compact electric wheel loaders, Volvo CE has one of the largest electric ranges on the market.
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