LG Chemical joins hands with Japan Toray to establish a joint venture battery diaphragm factory

LG Chemical plans to set up a joint venture with Japan's Toray in Europe to produce wet separators for lithium batteries, according to South Korean media reports.

According to public data, Toray, Japan, founded in 1926, is an enterprise with organic synthesis, high molecular chemistry and biochemistry as its core technology, and is also one of the largest wet diaphragm manufacturers in the world.

The diaphragm plant was established in conjunction with Toray, Japan, which is a small piece of LG chemical battery territory.

LG Chemical plans to invest 15.1 trillion won (85.5 billion yuan) by 2030 to develop next-generation battery technology and expand its domestic supply chain to consolidate its leading position in batteries, Yonhap news agency reported on July 8.

The project is divided into two parts and is jointly completed by LG Chemical and its wholly owned battery subsidiary LG Energy.

Specifically, LG Energy will invest 12.4 trillion won to develop next-generation battery technology, add production lines and expand local capacity to meet the growing demand for electric vehicle batteries.

LG Chemical plans to invest 2.7 trillion won in the research and development of more advanced battery material technology to expand local battery cathode material production capacity to stabilize the supply of battery materials.

In addition, on May 18 this year, the completion ceremony of the second lithium-ion battery factory of LG Chemical (Nanjing) New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was held in Nanjing Jiangning Binjiang Development Zone. The plant is mainly aimed at the European automobile market, with a total investment of US $1.3 billion (about 8.4 billion yuan).

The first factory, with a total investment of 2 billion US dollars, has achieved mass production in November 2019, and continues to add new production lines to the year of 27GWh/.

According to the LG new energy plan, its annual battery production will increase by 30 per cent from 120GWh in 2020 to 156GWH by the end of 2021.

It is worth noting that, according to foreign media reports, the South Korean government said on July 8 that it plans to invest 40.6 trillion won ($35 billion) in its electric vehicle battery industry by 2030 to ensure its global position in the field and compete with dominant China and Japan. LG Energy Solutions, SK Innovation and Samsung SDI will be key players in driving investment in battery R & D and production.