LG Chem will produce NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum) cathode through its joint venture with Huayou Cobalt in South Korea, TheElec has learned.
The joint venture, called LG BCM which will be set up at Gumi, South Korea, will be producing the NCMA cathode, which will comprised of over 80% of nickel.
The cathode can increase energy density in battery and are used in Gen 3 electric vehicles that can travel 500km to 600km per charge.
The pair will start construction of the factory in Gumi next week. It is planned to produce 60,000 metric tonnes of cathode per year and the pair will spend 475.4 billion won on the project.
Previous joint ventures between the two companies only produced NCM622 cathodes or cathodes with less than 60% nickel.
The cathode factory to be set up at Gumi won’t have an adjacent precursor line __ precursor will be procured from elsewhere.
LG Chem’s joint venture with Korea Zinc will likely be supplying the precursor.
Huayou Cobalt had made efforts to secure raw materials for battery materials for the past couple of years, including investing in a nickel mine in Indonesia.
Cathode and battery companies working to secure Class 1 nickel (nickel with over 99% purity).
