Posco Chemical to build new EV battery cathode plant in China

South Korea’s Posco Chemical Business this 7 days announced programs to devote KRW281bn (US$240m) in China to develop its capacity to generate cathodes and precursors for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

The company programs to construct a new plant in Tongxiang in China’s Zhejiang province, upcoming to two lesser amenities operated by two individual joint ventures involving Posco and China’s premier cobalt producer Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.

The new plant will have a creation capacity of 30,000 tons of cathodes and precursors for every yr, sufficient to offer up to 335,000 EVs equipped with 60kwh battery packs. Design is scheduled to begin in the next 50 % of 2021.

The two existing vegetation have a blended capacity of five,000 tons of cathodes and precursors for every yr.

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt also owns a range of cobalt and nickel mines and is explained to supplyaround fifty% of world demand for cobalt, a key materials applied in the creation of lithium-ion batteries.

Posco Chemical, component of South Korea’s premier steel-producing team, has been expanding aggressively into the EV battery components/elements sector in the latest many years to tap into the rapid growth in EV gross sales throughout the globe.

In July it announced programs to devote KRW600bn to construct a new cathode elements plant in South Korea’s port city of Pohang with an once-a-year capacity of 60,000 tons. The company at the moment operates cathode elements vegetation in the South Korean towns of Gumi and in Gwangyang.