ISTANBUL, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The construction of a new automotive battery manufacturing plant began Monday in northwestern Türkiye with a ceremony attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

SIRO, a joint venture between China-based Farasis Energy and Turkish electric car manufacturer Togg, held the groundbreaking ceremony for the new SIRO Battery Development and Production Campus in the town of Gemlik in the northwestern Bursa province.

The new facility will begin operation in 2026 and become an integrated center manufacturing Lithium-ion Nickel Manganese Cobalt batteries, modules, and packs.

"We are taking a step toward making Türkiye a powerful player in battery technologies," said Erdogan in his opening remarks. "Türkiye will become one of the few countries capable of developing and manufacturing battery cells."

He said that this investment would add 33 billion U.S. dollars to the GDP within 10 years and create 7,000 jobs. "We showed our support by offering 30 billion liras (1.55 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed investment," he added, "and we'll continue to support anyone who contributes to the Turkish economy, whether they are foreign or domestic."

The SIRO facility will be located right next to the Togg Technology Campus, where it already began manufacturing the batteries for Türkiye's first electric vehicles. Founded in 2018 and backed by the state, Togg is highly valued by Erdogan as a prestige project to relieve Türkiye's dependence on foreign carmakers.

Farasis Energy operates two production facilities in Ganzhou and Zhenjiang provinces in China. Enditem

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