Boston Power expanding its factories in China

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. – Boston-Power Inc., a closely held maker of lithium-ion batteries, received $290 million in financial support from local governments in China to expand factories there, Bloomberg News reported.
The company’s Liyang facility will receive $160 million to increase production capacity fivefold by 2016, Westborough, Mass.-based Boston Power said in a statement. The company’s Tianjin plant will expand to 4 gigawatts by 2017 with $130 million.
The facilities, near automakers in the Yangtze River Delta and Tianjin, are growing to meet demand in China, the largest and fastest-growing electric-vehicle market, Boston Power Chairman Sonny Wu said in the statement.
Boston Power moved its manufacturing operations from the U.S. and Taiwan to China, opening the Liyang plant last year. The company is funded by GSR Ventures, Foundation Asset Management LLC and Oak Investment Partners. •