To Expand Production Capacity Six-fold
EcoPro BM announced on Nov. 1 that it would invest two trillion won to build cathode material production facilities in the United States and Europe.
The company made this announcement in an ECO-Friendly Day event at the Eco-Battery Pohang Campus in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on Nov. 4.
It plans to invest 1.1 trillion won in Europe and 900 billion won in the United States by 2026 to build cathode material production facilities. It plans to produce 140,000 tons of cathode materials in Europe annually and 110,000 tons in the U.S. During the same period, an additional 800 billion won will be invested in Korea to raise its current annual production capacity of 77,000 tons to 230,000 tons.
The company said it would respond to demand for low-priced batteries with cobalt-free NMX cathode and OLO cathode, which is composed mostly of lithium and manganese thanks to a significant reduction in the portions of nickel and cobalt. The material costs of NMX cathode and OLO cathode are lower than that of NCM811 cathode (an 8:1:1 ratio of nickel, cobalt and manganese). They are expected to be highly competitive in the low-priced battery market as they offer higher energy density than LFP batteries.
When the planned plants in the U.S. and Europe are completed, Ecopro's cathode material production capacity will increase more than six times from the current 77,000 tons a year to 480,000 tons, which is enough to manufacture batteries for six million electric vehicles.