In the Kaliningrad Oblast along the Baltic Sea coast, an industrial new area covering 230000 square meters has quietly awakened. The production line extends 2.3 kilometers like a silver dragon, with over 3000 devices buzzing and running - this is the birthplace of Rosatom's first electric vehicle battery "Gigafactory". Recently, this factory with an annual production capacity of about 4GWh has been officially put into trial operation, not only filling the gap in Russia's domestic battery manufacturing, but also opening the curtain for this energy giant to fully sprint towards the new energy track.

Nuclear energy giant's' green turn '

As a global giant in the field of nuclear energy, Rosatom's business originally focused on uranium mining, nuclear power plant construction, and fuel cycle. However, as the global energy transition wave swept through, this state-owned enterprise giant with nearly 420000 employees began strategic expansion. Rosatom President Alexei Likhachev referred to the launch of the battery factory as a "breakthrough in Russian industry" and emphasized its importance for the country's "technological sovereignty". The factory achieves full chain production from chemical treatment to battery pack packaging, with an automation rate of about 90%, and can produce one battery unit per second. This layout is not accidental: as early as 2021, Rosatom had quickly absorbed core battery technology by acquiring a portion of Enertech International's shares in South Korea, paving the way for today's independent production.

Two factories were established in four years

The commissioning of the Kaliningrad factory is only the starting point of Rosatom's battery ambitions. At the same time as the first batch of battery trial production, the company's second battery factory in Moscow broke ground in September 2023 and is expected to be completed by 2025. The dual line layout highlights Russia's determination to build a domestic battery supply chain. The construction of the factory received collaborative support from the Kaliningrad Oblast government, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, and multiple development agencies. It took only about two years from signing the contract to trial operation, and the progress was rapid. Analysis indicates that although the Russian electric vehicle market is in its early stages, the implementation of local production capacity will significantly reduce battery import costs, provide core support for domestic electric vehicle brands, and may export production capacity to European and Asian markets in the future.

Russia's New Energy Chess Game

Rosatom's cross-border operation is not an isolated operation. As part of Russia's national strategy, the battery project collaborates with low-carbon energy businesses such as wind power to build a "non nuclear" new energy industry sector. In the context of western technical sanctions triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, achieving self-sufficiency of key components has become an urgent issue for Russian industry. Although the production capacity of 4GWh still lags behind the top battery factories in China and Europe, it marks Russia's official entry into the global battery production competition. If the factory can continue to expand its production and improve its technology density in the future, it will not only serve the domestic demand for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, but also form a competitive relationship with China and other new energy technology powers through the "the Belt and Road" and other channels, affecting the Eurasian market pattern.Editor/Yang Meiling