The new facility, which is being built in partnership with Mitsubishi, will make batteries for the i-MiEV (sold in the US as the i, and in France as the Peugeot iOn and Citroën C-ZERO)

When GS Yuasa Corp. opens a new lithium battery plant in Ritto, Japan in March, it will be able to sharply cut production costs, Japanese news agency Nikkei reported on Thursday.

The new facility, which is being built in partnership with Mitsubishi, will make batteries for the i-MiEV (sold in the US as the i, and in France as the Peugeot iOn and Citroën C-ZERO). Annual output capacity will be enough to equip 50,000 i-MiEVs. The partners are also building an even bigger plant at the same site, which will produce 75,000 units a year for various domestic and foreign automakers.

"Through mass production, we will soon lower production costs to a quarter" of what they were when the company first started making such batteries in 2009, said GS Yuasa President Makoto Yoda.

Image: GS Yuasa Corp.