Philippines' Marcos opens first EV battery plant

MANILA, Philippines: President Ferdinand Marcos inaugurated on Monday the first factory for electric vehicle batteries in the Philippines, calling it the “future” of clean energy.

The Australian-owned lithium-iron-phosphate factory aims to produce two gigawatt-hours of batteries per year by 2030, powering about 18,000 electric vehicles or nearly half a million home battery systems.

“We have worked very hard and tried to do our best to bring this kind of technology to the Philippines with a clear recognition that this is the future,” Marcos said in a livestreamed speech.

“As the first manufacturing plant in the Philippines for advanced iron phosphate batteries… (it) sets the stage for the Philippines to become a player in clean energy storage in our part of the world.”

Located in New Clark city north of Manila, the StB Giga Factory Inc. facility will create 2,500 local jobs and channel five billion pesos ($89.2 million) into the economy each year, Marcos said.

The investment aligns with the government’s efforts to “transition our country to renewable energy” and would help Manila “entice more investors in renewable energy facilities in the country”, he added.