EV Gold Rush – GM, Posco to Build New Plant

Batteries work via electro-chemical reactions of lithium (Li) ions that flow back and forth from the positive pole (+) to the negative pole (-) to generate electricity. They are used to power EVs, IT devices and home appliances. Batteries consist of four elements: cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, and separators. POSCO Chemical produces essential materials used in batteries — cathodes and anodes.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) and POSCO Chemical* today said the will form a joint venture to construct a factory in North America to process critical battery materials for GM’s Ultium electric vehicle platform. The joint venture will process Cathode Active Material (CAM), a battery material that represents ~40% of the cost of a battery cell. The location of the facility, which will create hundreds of jobs when it opens in 2024 it’s claimed, will be announced later.

“We are building a sustainable and resilient North America-focused supply chain for EVs covering the entire ecosystem from raw materials to battery cell manufacturing and recycling,” said Doug Parks, GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. Analysts will not that Korean owned Posco’s operating income and net income have declined in 2019 and 2020. The GM deal – if it works – will be beneficial to the company, which also has close business ties with China.

The new plant will supply the Ultium Cells facilities GM and LG Energy Solution are building in Lordstown, Ohio and Spring Hill, Tennessee. Two more U.S.-based Ultium cell plants are planned by mid-decade as GM offers high-volume Ultium-powered EVs, including a Chevrolet crossover priced around $30,000.

GM’s ambitious plans for EVs include:

• Investing $35 billion from 2020 to 2025 in electric and autonomous vehicles
• Launch more than 30 EVs globally by 2025, with roughly two-thirds available in the United States
• U.S. market share leadership in EVs
• Deliver more than 1 million annual global EV sales by 2030
• Make first-generation Ultium cell costs 40% lower than those used in the Chevrolet Bolt EV;
• Deliver twice the energy density at 60% lower cost in the second generation
• Create EV manufacturing with more than 50 percent of North America and China plants capable of EV production by 2030
• Double annual revenues from a five-year average of about $140 billion by the end of the decade, expand margins, and increase EV revenue from about $10 billion in 2023 to approximately $90 billion annually by 2030

AutoInformed.com on

• Cadillac LYRIC – Taking Back the Luxury EV Lead?
• GM Ups Bet by $35B in Autonomous, Electric Vehicle Games
• Environmental About Face – General Motors Ditching Internal Combustion Engines by 2035. Carbon Neutral by 2040?

*POSCO Chemical aspires to “becoming a front runner in the global market by expanding production capacity, completing our value chain for raw materials, and conducting R&D in next-generation technologies as a sole producer of both cathodes and anodes in Korea based on in-depth research.”