Malaysia will soon kick off the production of its first locally developed EV battery cell. The graphene-enhanced lithium-ion battery cell was developed by Gigafactory Malaysia Sdn Bhd (GMSB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NanoMalaysia Berhad (NMB) under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), at a cost of RM20 million.
Set to be produced in Sepang, the initial small-scale commercial manufacturing of the battery cell is scheduled to begin this month. In an interview with Nikkei Asia, the CEO of NMB, Dr Rezal Khairi Ahmad, said that the agency expects the facility to hit its maximum production capacity of 1MWh – equivalent to 92,000 battery cells annually – as early as this September.
In addition to that, Dr Rezal also said that GMSB already received its first order for a 25kWh battery pack from a local entity, although the name of the customer was not mentioned in the report. Meanwhile, NMB is already looking to export the battery cells to other markets such as Indonesia, South Korea, India, and Pakistan.
A project long in the making
Utilising nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistry, GMSB’s graphene-enhanced lithium-ion battery cell has been in development for several years. We first heard of the project during Dr Rezal’s presentation at the 2nd ASEAN Battery Technology Conference 2024 in Singapore.
At that time, the battery was about to enter the prototype stage, although he already pointed out that the integration of graphene can improve energy density by roughly 60% at the electrode level compared to commercially available alternatives.
In the interview with Nikkei Asia, he also said that a battery pack with GMSB battery cells is perfect for EVs that require energy densities of more than 200Wh/kg. The battery is projected to have a driving range of up to 640km and can reach full charge in just 12 minutes through fast charging, although the report did not mention the battery pack’s capacity and charging speed.
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