Gold Peak targets electric-car battery market

BATTERY and electronics maker Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) is eager to enter the market of electric vehicles by producing bulky batteries.

Group vice-chairman Andrew Ng said yesterday the company's factory in Singapore last month started to produce sample batteries for electric cars and it would sponsor some car-racing activities for advertising purposes.

It takes about 15 days to produce one of these batteries, which weighs about 317 kilograms.

'It is still at an experimental stage, but we expect to receive orders soon after the end of the year,' Mr Ng said, adding that the firm's Hong Kong factory had been providing research support to the project.

'Of course, we are targeting those using electric vehicles. It is a profitable market,' he said.

Meanwhile, group chairman and chief executive Victor Lo admitted yesterday that rising prices of raw materials such as plastics, copper and silver had affected its electrical division.