This photo, provided by POSCO, shows a hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle equipped with traction motor.
SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO has announced plans to build a new plant to produce advanced electrical steel for motors of eco-friendly vehicles.
At a board meeting held last week, the company resolved to invest about 1 trillion won (US$845 million) to build an electrical steel plant with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons as part of efforts to better cope with the demand for eco-friendly vehicles as well as to get a jump on the competition.
At present, POSCO has the annual capacity to produce 100,000 tons of non-oriented electrical steel for use in traction motors. When the planned plant is completed in 2025, the company’s production capacity will be expanded to 400,000 tons per year.
Non-oriented electrical steel for drive motors refers to a product that greatly reduces power loss and increases mileage to enhance the efficiency of traction motors.
The new plant will clear the way for POSCO to churn out a wider variety of products than before, including plates with a wider width, high efficiency plates with a thickness of less than 0.3 millimeters and plates with various coating characteristics.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
