SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Chem said on Sunday that it has set up a joint venture with Vietnam's VinFast Trading and Production to produce lithium-ion batteries for the Vietnamese carmaker's electric scooters and electric vehicles.
The two companies established their joint venture factory in the Vietnamese northern port city of Hai Phong, with an aim to produce lithium-ion battery packs for VinFast's electric scooters that are being made now and electric cars to be produced in the future, the South Korean battery maker said in a statement.
The plan comes as VinFast, a unit of Vietnam's largest conglomerate Vingroup JSC, aims to become the country's first domestic car manufacturer and targets to produce 250,000 cars per year. Vingroup has earmarked $3.5 billion(2.7 billion pounds) for its overall car manufacturing project.
Part of the joint-venture plans include providing premium products that meet international standards and supplying lithium-ion battery cells for electric devices and other products belonging to Vingroup, the statement added.
(Reporting by Jane Chung; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
