HANOI, Reuters – Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup announced on Sunday that it has begun building a $174million battery cell plant to support its VinFast electric vehicle business. This will allow the company to own its supply chain.

VinFast, the nation’s first full-fledged domestic automobile manufacturer, was established in 2019 with its petrol-powered models.

The company is betting on America, where it will debut its first electric SUVs next year and a model that can be leased.

Vietnam’s first EV project and battery plant are located in Ha Tinh central province on a 20-acre (8-hectare) parcel.

Ha Tinh officials stated in October that plant investment was $387million and would take place on 12.6-hectares.

Thai Thi Thanh Hai is vice chair and vice-chair for VinFast.

We can now control the supply chain of parts and batteries thanks to this strategy.”

In a statement, the company stated that it intends to make 100,000 battery packs annually in the initial phase. Then, it will upgrade its production capacity to one-million.

It did not elaborate on the project’s time frame in detail but based on the October’s report https://www.reuters.com/article/vietnam-vinfast-idUSL1N2RG1T7, the project would run at full capacity from 2025.

VinFast is working with a variety of partners for batteries, including StoreDot, Gotion High-Tech and ProLogium and is also focusing on internal R&D and is establishing research facilities to develop battery and charging technologies, the company has previously said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Vingroup announced last week that it would list the United States in second-half of next year.