At the event, Kim Long Motor also signed a strategic partnership agreement with BYD Battery.

Dao Viet Anh, general director of Kim Long Motor, said, “This is a key venture of great significance in realising the guidelines of the Party and the government in developing high-tech industries, promoting green transformation, and enhancing the strategic self-reliance of the economy. The initiative affirms Kim Long Motor’s commitment and long-term strategic vision to master the manufacturing value chain, steadily shifting from processing and assembly to research, development, and manufacturing of core vehicle technologies.”

Under the cooperation agreement, Kim Long Motor will invest in building a new energy battery plant in Vietnam, with the comprehensive support and technology transfer from BYD.

The collaboration lays the foundation for the company to gradually master battery manufacturing technology – a key component determining the performance, safety, and competitiveness of electric vehicles (EVs) researched and produced by Kim Long Motor.

BYD boasts a global research, development and manufacturing ecosystem with extensive experience in major international markets.

The tie-up with BYD enables Kim Long Motor to access advanced technological standards while enhancing its design capabilities, production, and quality management in battery manufacturing, in line with the company’s long-term development strategy.

The BYD Battery Manufacturing Plant is built at the Kim Long Motor Hue manufacturing and assembly industrial park. The facility will produce battery lines for trucks, buses, minivans, and minibuses to meet the rapidly growing demand of the Vietnamese market. The facility also targets Vietnamese-made exports of high-quality batteries and complete commercial vehicles manufactured by Kim Long Motor.

In what is reported as a world first, Kim Long Motor has pioneered the research, development, and production of a 34-seat EV sleeper bus, utilising advanced BYD battery technology. This is the first intercity sleeper bus using new energy sources to serve the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian markets.

Cutting-edge technology

This specialised battery factory for commercial vehicles has a total investment of $130 million across two phases.

In Phase 1, the factory is built on a 4.4-hectare site covered with a roof. It is envisioned to become one of the leading EV battery manufacturing plants with a capacity of 3 GWh per year, using advanced technology in Vietnam and across Asia.

In the next phase, the company will scale up investment and develop battery lines for passenger cars, with an additional covered factory area of 10 hectares, raising total capacity to 6 GWh per year.

Dao Viet Anh, general director of Kim Long Motor

With advanced automation technology and a modern quality management system, the BYD battery manufacturing factory not only meets the increasing domestic demand but also expands exports to countries within and outside Southeast Asia.

Anh said, “Kim Long Motor has identified EV development as a long-term strategy linked to the self-reliance of the national industry. Strategic cooperation with BYD and investment in building the BYD battery manufacturing factory demonstrate our strong commitment to mastering core technologies, rather than simply assembling or processing them."

He added that green industrial development is not only a corporate social responsibility but also a sustainable competitive advantage in the era of the green economy.

“The initiative demonstrates Kim Long Motor’s determination to participate deeply and substantively in the global value chain of batteries and new energy vehicles. Once operational, the BYD battery manufacturing factory will help the company realise its target of achieving a localisation rate of over 80 per cent by the second quarter of 2026, gradually forming a regional-scale battery and EV manufacturing hub,” Anh said.