BASF expands production capacity in China
BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co., Ltd. (BSBM) – a BASF majority-owned company in China – is expanding its battery materials capacity in Changsha, Hunan Province, and Shuizuishan, Ningxia Province, to meet the local and global demands of the EV industry.
The expansion project will enable BSBM to achieve 100 kt annual capacity for cathode active materials (CAM).
BASF says that the new production lines are designed with high flexibility to meet the diversified needs of its customers, from high-nickel and ultra-high-nickel nickel-cobalt-manganese oxide (NCM) for polycrystalline and single crystalline, as well as manganese-rich NCM products.
The manganese-rich products are already manufactured on a multi-ton scale. This progress in material development will be further accelerated.
“Our manganese-rich products are well balanced in cost-performance compared to other ternary cathode materials and offer customers a higher security on lower metal cost as manganese is the most abundantly available metal compared to cobalt or nickel, which have recently been subject to significant price increases and fluctuations,” said Dr. Peter Schuhmacher, President, Catalysts division at BASF.
“With the synergy on technology expertise in R&D and production, we are glad to see that BASF’s chemical know-how will be a catalyst to contribute to a more sustainable CAM offering with an industry-leading carbon footprint,” added Dr. Michael Baier, Senior Vice President of BASF Battery Materials and Chairman of the Board of BSBM.
