Battery equipment maker Mplus has won an exclusive order to supply battery packaging equipment worth approximately 200 billion won from SK On, the battery-making subsidiary of South Korean energy firm SK Innovation, TheElec has learned.
SK On has ordered a total of 24 units for use at its battery factories in Hungary and China, sources said.
The packaging equipment will be used at SK On’s factory at Ivancsa, Hungary and its second factory at Yancheng, China. The two factories have an annual capacity of 30GWh and 33GWh, respectively.
Each factory has 12 production lines and the equipment will be placed inside starting in September. SK On is planning to start operations of the factories next year to 2024.
Packaging equipment is used in the assembly process for pouch batteries.
The deal is the biggest order for Mplus in recent years. It had won 166.8 billion won worth of new orders in 2019 and 87 billion won in 2020.
As SK On is also likely to give orders for its US factory that will be run by Blue Oval SK, Mplus could win an additional order worth 100 billion won from that, the sources also said.
Mplus was the exclusive supplier to SK On for packaging equipment until last year when it lost the order for them for the first factory at Yancheng to rival Hana Technology.