6 M BY MARK KANE
LG Chem announced two joint ventures with China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to supply battery material for hundreds of thousands of electric cars annually.
Cobalt (source: Wikipedia)
Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt is the world’s largest producer of refined cobalt (20,000 tons in 2017) and LG Chem needs a lot of cobalt these days.
LG Chem intends to invest 239.4 billion KRW ($224 million) in two joint ventures to get 40,000 tons of precursor and cathode materials from 2020.
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That amount is expected to be enough for 400,000 battery packs for electric cars with 320 km (200 miles) of range. But in the long term, it will not be enough, so LG Chem plans to increase capacity to 100,000 tons/year in the future, which would support 1 million battery packs.
“The precursor joint venture will be established in Zhuzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China, and LG Chem will take a 49% stake. The cathode JV will be established in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China, and LG Chem will secure a 51% stake.
The joint ventures will start producing about 40,000 tons/year of precursor and cathode materials from 2020. The 40,000-ton capacity is enough to manufacture about 400,000 battery packs for EVs with about 320 km range (~200 miles). LG Chem said it plans to increase capacity to 100,000 tons/year in the future.
LG Chem plans to use the precursor and cathode material produced in the plant at its Nanjing battery plant in China (completed in 2015, production of batteries for small, electric cars, and ESS) and its plant in Wroclaw in Poland (groundbreaking in 2016, battery production for electric vehicles).”
Source: Green Car Congress
Categories: Battery Tech, China
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