EA announces the success of grand opening of the first Gigafactory, the largest integrated battery factory in ASEAN

Energy Absolute Public Company Limited (EA) announces the success of the region, building a new S-Curve after the commercial launch of Amita Technology (Thailand), a modern lithium-ion battery factory and an integrated energy storage system. Despite of the first phase, it has the largest production capacity in the ASEAN, starting full commercial production and stands the first battery factory with a capacity of up to 1 GWh per year in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) development project area aligning the expansion plan with the production capacity to 50 GWh per year. This supports EA to be the largest battery innovation leader in Thailand and ASEAN that can produce lithium-ion batteries and backup power systems in every process pushing Thailand to become a manufacturing hub of electric vehicle production and the power storage industry at the regional level.

This lithium-ion battery plant and power storage system of Energy Absolute Group (EA), under the name Amita Technology (Thailand) Co., Ltd., has an initial capacity of 1 GWh per year. This first phase is ready to immediately expand capacity up to 4 GWh per year. The production area within the factory has a total area of more than 80,000 square meters. The factory with fully integrated production technology is designed to produce pouch cell types of lithium-ion batteries, using intelligent systems and modern automated production systems to ensure the highest efficiency and low cost of production processes. This key production base is located in the EEC with an area of ​​over 90 rais, which is ready to support the expansion of lithium-ion battery production plants and energy storage systems by more than 10 times to the ASEAN region's highest production capacity of 50 GWh per year as well as being in an area that is ready to support the investment of related industries in order to create a complete ecosystem of New S-Curve.

Mr. Somphote Ahunai, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Absolute Public Company Limited or EA, an innovative and visionary leader in renewable energy, electric power and electric vehicles, revealed that “lithium-ion battery plants and energy storage systems will be the heart of the production of electric vehicles and the introduction of stable renewable energy into daily use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This factory is designed to use modern systems to be able to carry out production continuously and efficiently as well as being able to easily develop and change various production processes to meet the needs of more modern technologies in the future. The production process also emphasizes the concept of energy efficiency, reducing waste by focusing on recycling as much as possible. In cooperation with Amita Technologies Inc., which is a manufacturer and distributor of lithium-ion batteries in Taiwan for more than 20 years, Energy Absolute group has entered into an investment, a transfer of experience and technology in building the factory through a subsidiary named Amita Technology (Thailand) Co., Ltd., which has a larger production capacity at the world class level to produce lithium-ion batteries in the pouch cell types with the modern technology and materials with high safety in the production of battery cells, high capacity, light weight and long life cycles. It does not contain harmful substances such as acid or lead and using special techniques to produce cells. This allows for easy separation of the positive and negative plates in the recycling process when the battery reaches the end of its useful life making a battery environmentally friendly. In addition, Amita's battery is designed to be compatible with Ultra-Fast Charge technology that supports charging large electric vehicles in just 15 minutes and supports up to 3,000 charge cycles, which will be a highlight for supporting applications of large commercial electric vehicles. The time factor is important for the most cost-effective use.”

The lithium-ion batteries produced can be used in all types of electric vehicles, including electric cars, electric trucks, electric buses and electric passenger boats to help reduce emissions to the environment caused by internal combustion engines. The initial production capacity of the lithium-ion battery up to 1 GWh can be used in 11-meter electric buses with a maximum distance of 240 kilometers, up to 4,160 vehicles per year. The use of 4,160 electric buses can reduce GHG emission by approximately 91,709 tons per year and reduces diesel consumption by more than 97,066,667 liters per year when compared to diesel-powered buses.

“Aside from being able to produce battery cells on their own, EA has thought of leaps and bounds by expanding the supply chain to help reduce costs, waste and external dependence. A solvent distillation tower was built to be used in the battery cell manufacturing process to purify it until it can be recycled causing less waste and reduce the import of raw materials from abroad. It also built an electrolyte plant, which is one of the key raw materials that determine the efficiency of self-use battery cells, the first in the ASEAN region. Together with the in House R&D team, the finished electrolyte can be tested in the battery cell to measure its performance immediately and can develop its own formula to be better all the time. In addition, the company's self-produced energy storage system (ESS) is also being used as a backup power supply for critical and continually operating machinery and equipment as well as having a recycling plant to reduce toxic waste. It is the idea and design of the integrated production process which is an outstanding strength to enhance the potential of the electric vehicle industry as a New S-Curve according to the country's strategy in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) development project and to support sustainability, especially the reduction of pollution and global warming to achieve the goals,” concluded Mr. Somphote.