Battery Metals

Hyundai plans to hold onto its early success in the rapidly evolving US EV market. According to a new report, the South Korean automaker is mulling two additional battery plants in a joint venture with LG Energy Solutions.

After winning over US consumers with its first dedicated electric vehicle, the award-winning IONIQ5, Hyundai is in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime business transformation.

Meanwhile, the automaker is at risk of a slowdown after the Inflation Reduction Act was passed in August. Although the IRA bill is designed to speed up EV adoption in the US, it includes strict battery sourcing and assembly requirements that disqualify many automakers, including Hyundai.

Hyundai, which announced its intentions to build its first dedicated US electric vehicle facility in March, has responded quickly.

The automaker broke ground on its $5.5 billion EV manufacturing facility in Bryan County, Georgia, on October 25, 2022, after several months of lobbying with US officials. The 3,000-acre project is the most extensive in Georgia’s history and expects to produce around 300,000 electric vehicles annually.

Hyundai looks to open its doors in 2025 but continues establishing its EV footprint in the US. Last week, a report from the Korean Economic Daily claimed Hyundai and SK On were planning a 50/50 joint venture to fund a $1.9 billion US EV battery plant. The South Korean automaker doesn’t look to be stopping there.

Hyundai and LG Energy considering two new US EV battery plants

According to the report, Hyundai and LG Energy Solution are considering two additional electric vehicle battery plants in Georgia near the automaker’s new facilities.

As the current plan suggests, each facility would have an annual capacity of around 35 GWh or enough to power around 1 million EVs. The South Korean news outlet cited an unnamed source.

The idea is for Hyundai to allow US consumers to take advantage of the tax benefits provided by the IRA bill. The joint venture would not be the first time Hyundai and LG Energy have discussed plans for an EV batty plant. In 2021, the partners signed an MoU to manufacture batteries in Indonesia.

Hyundai aims for 7% of the global EV market by the end of the decade with 1.87 million EV sales. To get there, building battery capacity will be key.

A new graphite pilot plant processing facility – one of the first in Australia – has been officially opened in Collie by Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan and Minister for Regional Development Alannah MacTiernan.

International Graphite’s Collie operation is part of push for new production facilities to meet escalating demand for raw materials to support decarbonisation of transport and energy storage.

The new facility is a milestone for Australia’s battery industry and one of the new industries spearheading economic growth and transition in the State’s South West, International Graphite said in a news release.

The company’s pilot plant, which has successfully produced micronised and spheroidised graphite, is an important proof of concept showing that Western Australia has the capacity to become a global producer of graphite material for battery anodes, it said.

More than 30 local suppliers have been involved in setting up the new facility which houses pilot scale graphite micronising and spheroidising equipment.

On Thursday, the company announced the purchase of bigger equipment which will take the operation to the next level and produce product for qualification with potential international customers.

The Collie facility is also setting up a research laboratory incorporating an ultra-high temperature furnace that will be used to develop a thermal graphite purification process.

“This new facility is proof that International Graphite is well on its way to establishing commercial downstream graphite processing facilities in Collie,” Executive Chairman Phil Hearse said in the statement.

“By the end of 2023 we expect to be completing construction and commissioning of a commercial scale graphite processing plant here in Collie. By 2025, we expect to have developed a fully integrated battery anode project with feedstock coming from our planned graphite mine at Springdale, near Hopetoun, on WA’s south coast,” Hearse said.

The Western State Government has contributed A$2 million, through the Collie Futures Industry Development Fund, to help establish commercial scale graphite micronising operations at Collie. Purified micronised graphite is used as a conductive additive to battery cathodes, and other industrial applications, and well as being an essential step in the production of purified spheroidised graphite for battery anodes.

“The opening of International Graphite’s new processing facility is a big win for Collie’s Just Transition Plan – an effort to attract new 21st century industries to the region as we decarbonise our economy,” Western Australia’s Minister for Regional Development Alannah MacTiernan said.

“International Graphite selected Collie as a strategic location for the new processing and manufacturing plant, based on existing regional industries and infrastructure, a skilled local workforce, and an ability to access overseas markets.”

NIO supplier WeLion sees 1st solid-state battery cell roll off line.

NIO’s semi-solid-state battery supplier, Beijing WeLion New Energy Technology, began rolling out its solid-state power battery cells, marking a major milestone for the company and paving the way for its delivery to NIO.

On November 22, WeLion saw the first solid-state power battery cell roll off the production line at its battery manufacturing facility in Huzhou, Zhejiang province in eastern China, the company announced.

WeLion celebrated the occasion with a ceremony attended by NIO senior vice president Zeng Shuxiang and officials from the city of Huzhou, according to a company press release. Zeng is the CEO of XPT, NIO’s electric drive division, and a director of WeLion.

WeLion started the construction of its battery base in Huzhou in 2021 and completed the construction of the plant and production line after one year, said Tian Qiyou, general manager of the company’s Huzhou branch.

The smooth rollout of the first solid-state cell is of great significance, he said, adding that the company will join hands with leading international car companies to ensure that the subsequent mass production progresses steadily as planned.

The press release does not provide any further details, though this is the first time the company has announced a solid-state battery cell coming off the production line.

When NIO unveiled its flagship sedan, the ET7, at the NIO Day 2020 event on January 9, 2021, it said the model would have a 150 kWh solid-state battery pack available starting in the fourth quarter of 2022, giving it an NEDC range of 1,000 kilometers.

NIO did not reveal the supplier of the battery after announcing the ET7. On March 27, WeLion chief scientist and founder Li Hong confirmed the partnership with NIO at the China EV 100 forum, saying it plans to launch a hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte battery based on the ET7 with a range of 1,000 km on a single charge.

The pack, which has a capacity of 150 kWh and an energy density of 360 Wh/kg, is expected to start mass production by the end of this year or the first half of next year, Li said at the time.

NIO had planned to start delivering the pack in the fourth quarter of this year, but during a call with analysts on September 2 following the company’s second-quarter earnings announcement, William Li, the company’s founder, chairman and CEO, said there would be a delay of several months in the delivery of the pack.

Information on WeLion’s website shows that it was founded in 2016, is headquartered in Beijing and currently has four production bases located in Fangshan, Beijing; Liyang, Jiangsu; Huzhou, Zhejiang; and Zibo, Shandong.

WeLion has partnered with car companies including NIO and Geely, Lighthouse Capital, which acted as financial advisor in the company’s recent new financing, said in a November 4 press release.

WeLion’s hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte battery with NIO is expected to begin mass production by the end of this year or the first half of next year, with a range of up to 1,000 kilometers on a single charge, according to the press release from Lighthouse Capital.

The company plans to achieve mass production of all key materials within the year and will further promote its products in the coming years in areas including high-end power batteries and energy storage batteries, according to the release.

Lygend Resources & Technology Co., a Chinese nickel producer and trader, raised about HK$3.67 billion ($470 million) in its Hong Kong initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Ningbo-based company priced the offering at HK$15.80 per share, near the bottom of its marketed range, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The company had previously marketed 232.5 million shares at HK$15.60 and HK$19.96 apiece.

An external representative for Lygend didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The offering is the largest in Hong Kong since CALB Co. raised $1.3 billion in a first-time share sale at the end of September. Lygend’s listing kicks off what’s expected to be a busy end to the year for IPOs in the Asian financial hub, where proceeds slumped 71% versus the same period last year, according to Bloomberg calculations. The market has faced headwinds ranging from rising interest rates to the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns on China’s economy.

A recent rebound in Chinese shares has been followed by several Chinese firms resuming listing plans in the Asian hub. Sunshine Insurance Group Co. could begin taking orders by the end of this month for an offering of about $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported in October. DPC Dash Ltd., Domino’s Pizza’s exclusive franchisee in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, started gauging investor interest for its IPO this week.

Five cornerstone investors will subscribe to about 60% of Lygend’s offering, according to an exchange statement. An unit indirectly controlled by battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. is buying HK$783.9 million worth of shares priced at the mid-point of the range.

Shares are slated to start trading in Hong Kong on Dec. 1. China International Capital Corp. and CMB International Capital Ltd. are joint sponsors of the share sale.

Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp on Tuesday unveiled a $10.6 billion spending plan to electrify its vehicles and said it was also considering investing in battery production.

The company also raised its sales target for electric vehicles (EVs) to up to 40% of its total global sales by 2030, as automakers worldwide spend billions of dollars to ramp up battery and EV production in the face of tougher environmental regulations.

The investment plan by Mazda follows similar announcements this year by domestic rivals such as Toyota and Honda, which have been criticised by environmentalists and green activist investors for being slow in electrification.

“We will promote the full-fledged launch of battery EVs and consider investing in battery production. We estimate Mazda’s EV ratio in global sales to rise to a range between 25% and 40% as of 2030,” Mazda said in a statement.

Its previous EV sales target was 25% by 2030.

The new forecast was in line with a broader industry trend, with consulting firm Deloitte expecting EV sales to make up about 32% of total new car sales globally by 2030.

As part of a three-phase plan, Mazda said it would introduce battery-EV models in the “latter half of phase 2” which it identified as the period between 2025 and 2027. It planned a full-scale launch of fully electric vehicles between 2028 and 2030, the company said.

Senior managing executive officer Akira Koga told reporters the 1.5 trillion yen ($10.6 billion) investment would be made along with its partners and would be used for research and development. The news was first reported by the Nikkei business daily.

Koga declined to give a detailed investment timeline, adding it would depend on how fast EVs became popular.

Still, Mazda CEO Akira Marumoto said the company will seek to introduce a new hybrid system and improve efficiency on internal combustion engine.

“We believe that a multi-solution approach will be effective,” he said.

The automaker said it had agreed to work with seven companies, including electric-component maker Rohm Co, to jointly develop and produce electric drive units.

Company executives also said Mazda had reached a supply agreement with battery maker Envision AESC for a limited period between 2025 and 2027.

“Beyond that, we would like to develop a strategy on procurement and securing (batteries) step by step,” said Koga.

Envision AESC chief executive Shoichi Matsumoto told Reuters last month his company was in talks with automakers in Japan, Europe, the United States and China for new supply deals.

Mazda is aiming for about 4.5 trillion yen in net sales for the business year ending March 2026, a jump of about 45% from the financial year ending March 2022, the company said.

Deloitte expects total EV sales to reach 31.1 million by 2030, up from an expected 11.2 million in 2025 and 2.5 million in 2020.