XINING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's leading new energy vehicle maker BYD is expected to start production at its new battery plant in the northwestern province of Qinghai in June, a company executive said Tuesday.

With an investment of 4 billion yuan (633 million U.S. dollars), the plant in Xining, capital of Qinghai, is designed to have an annual production capacity of 10 GWh of lithium batteries.

The first three production lines, each having an annual capacity of 2GWh, are expected to start operation in June, said He Long, vice president of Shenzhen-based BYD.

With rich lithium resources, Qinghai has built a complete new energy vehicle industry chain from lithium resource mining to lithium battery and new energy vehicle production.

To hedge against price rises in material costs, BYD has signed a deal to partner with a local firm to build a plant with an annual output of 30,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, a raw material for making lithium batteries.