Hong Kong Highpower building new battery plant

China-based battery maker Hong Kong Highpower Technology (Amex: HPJ) announced today that it started work on a new battery manufacturing facility.

The company, which makes nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries and related products, said it has broken ground on a nickel-metal hydride plant in Huizhou, in Guangdong Province.

The cost of the new facility, which will eventually house all of the company's nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion production, was not disclosed, but the company said it acquired the 1.36 million square feet of land last year for RMB 26 million, or $3.8 million.

"Our new state of the art facility will provide three times our current manufacturing capacity, which translates to a potential increase in production capacity from approximately 600,000 pieces per day to 1.6 million pieces per day," said George Pan, chairman and CEO of Hong Kong Highpower Technology.

"We have already received environmental certification from the Chinese government and expect that construction will proceed seamlessly through to completion and pilot production by year-end 2009."

Last month, the company completed the construction and build-out of two production lines for lithium-ion batteries and products at its main factory in Shenzhen. At the time, the company said it was producing 100,000 lithium-ion units per month, and was aiming to produce 250,000 units per month by end of this year.

Founded in 2001, Hong Kong Highpower makes consumer batteries, as well as batteries for industrial applications, electric bikes and power tools.

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