Golden Dragon and BYD Invest $130M in EV Battery Plant in Vietnam

On January 27, Vietnam’s Kim Long Motor signed a strategic cooperation agreement with BYD and held a groundbreaking ceremony for their joint venture electric vehicle (EV) battery plant. The project entails a total investment of $130 million and will be developed in two phases: Phase I will cover 4.4 hectares with an annual capacity of 3 GWh, focusing on batteries for electric trucks, buses, and light commercial vehicles; Phase II will add 10 hectares of land, doubling total capacity to 6 GWh while expanding into R&D and pilot production of passenger car batteries, targeting both export markets and local supply chain integration. Kim Long is currently developing Southeast Asia’s first 34-seat fully electric sleeper coach based on BYD’s technology, which will be launched under the “Made in Vietnam” brand into the mid-to-high-end passenger transport market. The factory is located within Kim Long’s own industrial park in Thua Thien Hue Province, aiming to achieve a localization rate exceeding 80% by Q2 2026—supporting Vietnam’s ambition to build a new energy vehicle manufacturing cluster and integrate into the global supply chain. Specific details regarding the start of production and BYD’s operational involvement have not yet been disclosed.