Executives of LS Group cut tape during a dedication ceremony for a plant to produce nickel sulphate, a core material for electric vehicles, at the group’s metal recycling arm Torecom in Asan, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 27, 2023. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) – LS Corp., the holding company of electric power equipment enterprise LS Group, said Friday it is teaming up with a local battery materials producer to build a plant in South Korea for battery precursors.
LS Corp. said it and L&F Corp., a Daegu-based producer of cathodes for lithium-ion batteries, will form the 1 trillion-won (US$784 million) joint venture for the factory in the Saemangeum industrial complex in the country’s southwest.
The two will break ground on the plant this year and aim to produce battery precursors there no later than 2026. The plant will have an annual capacity of 220,000 tons in 2029, according to the companies.
The joint venture will be 55 percent owned by LS and 45 percent by L&F.
A precursor is a specific chemical form containing nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum before it is turned into cathodes, a key secondary battery material that determines the power and range of electric vehicle batteries.
Precursors account for 65-70 percent of the cost of cathodes.
LS and L&F are the latest in the battery components industry to join the Saemangeum complex, a reclaimed area in Gunsan, following similar projects under way by LG Chem Ltd. and SK On Co.
(Yonhap)
