BASF breaks ground on new cathode active materials production plant

The new plant is part of BASF’s multi-step investment plan in the European battery materials market and will use precursors from the company’s previously announced plant in Harjavalta, Finland. Construction started already back in August in Schwarzheide and the plant is scheduled for a 2022 start-up. The company says that this new plant for cathode active materials will enable the supply of around 400,000 full electric vehicles per year with BASF battery materials. “We support our customers and want to capture the growth opportunity in the fast-growing electric mobility market with our investments in battery materials in Europe,” says Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, in a press release. “Electromobility is one of the key solutions to unite the global desire for individual mobility and the need to significantly reduce local emissions. BASF is driving sustainable electromobility with innovative battery materials and state-of the art technology,” Brudermüller said. The Federal Government are providing approximately EUR 175 million towards BASF’s project. “The new plant together with the precursor plant in Harjavalta will use efficient manufacturing processes, a high share of renewable energy, upstream integration into the key raw materials like cobalt and nickel, and a short transportation route along the value chain. These measures will lead to a 30% lower CO2 footprint compared to the conventional industry standard,” said Dr. Peter Schuhmacher, President, Catalysts division at BASF. He added: “With efforts on recycling, we aim to ‘close the loop’ while reducing the CO2 footprint of our cathode active materials by up to 60% in total.”