Construction Equipment
Asia
Volvo Construction Equipment’s plant in Changwon, Korea, has opened a new battery pack facility that will produce battery solutions for the Volvo Group. An opening ceremony was held for employees, members of the EMT, and suppliers who helped with the construction of the new facility. Mass production of the battery packs began on April 23, with the battery pack being used first in our new model of EC230 Electric excavator.
Volvo Construction Equipment’s (Volvo CE) new battery production facility at Changwon has been completed thanks to an investment of SEK 80 million ($7.8 million) and will produce battery pack solutions for the Volvo Group. The new 2,500 sq. meter facility has been built within the existing component workshop at Changwon and includes assembly and logistics areas.
An inauguration ceremony to celebrate the opening was attended by employees of the plant as well as Head of Excavator Industrial Strategy and Managing Director of Volvo Group Korea Andrew Knight, Acting Head of Changwon Operations Yang Hakyong, and colleagues from the Head of Volvo Financial Services Korea and Volvo Trucks Korea. They were joined by members of the EMT, Kamel Sid, Head of Operations and Mats Sköldberg, Head of Technology, along with representatives from Volvo Powertrains and key suppliers who helped with the construction of the new facility. To mark this milestone achievement, the very first battery pack to be produced at the plant was unveiled.
Commenting on the opening, Andrew Knight, Head of Excavator Industrial Strategy and Managing Director of Volvo Group Korea said: “We’re thrilled to open our new battery-pack production facility, the first in Volvo CE. In April 2022, we established a mass production line for electric excavators and with the completion of this new facility, we can now produce them in-house, from batteries to finished products, saving time and logistics costs. A big thank you to our employees, many of whom have undergone rigorous training, and are now ready to help us take this next step on our transformation journey.”
The new battery pack will be used in Volvo CE’s new 23-ton Volvo EC230 Electric excavator which begins mass production in Changwon from August 2024. Changwon is an ideal location for a battery pack production facility as it is close to battery module supply partners and other key suppliers in South Korea
Kamel Sid, Head of Operations at Volvo CE, said: The investment in our facilities is an important part of our strategy to drive the transformation towards more sustainable solutions and to help us meet our Science Based Target commitments. We have an ambition to be fossil-free and for 35% of our machine sales to be electric by 2030, so investing in our facilities is another important step on our electrification roadmap. We see increasing demand from our customers for more sustainable solutions and we are committed to meeting this demand by adapting our production for electric machines.