BASF: plans to invest 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion euros in battery materials over the next nine years

Recently, BASF announced that it will further focus on the field of battery materials and recycling, and will establish independent entities for motor vehicle emission catalysts, automotive catalyst recovery and related precious metal services. It is reported that the split process will begin in January 2022 and is expected to take 18 months.

Dr. Peter Schuhmacher, President of BASF Catalysts, said: "BASF will be a leader in innovative and sustainable cathode active materials with large capacity deployments in Asia, Europe and North America. We recently announced a long-term battery materials strategy with ambitious development plans for battery materials and basic metal services, with a goal of achieving sales of more than 7 billion euros by 2030. To implement this development plan, BASF aims to invest 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion euros in battery materials between 2022 and 2030. "

As the world's largest chemical supplier to the automotive industry, BASF already has a leading position in the market of positive active materials: including global production and R & D layout, and a rich product portfolio including medium-high nickel, manganese-rich and cobalt-free cathode active materials. In Europe, BASF relies on leading process technology, stable local raw material supply chain, advanced production energy mix and short-distance, efficient logistics and transportation advantages to produce positive active materials and ensure industry-leading low-carbon emissions.

Focusing on battery materials and recycling, BASF has increasingly close ties with Chinese companies since the beginning of this year:

On August 31, BASF and Shanshan Co., Ltd. jointly formed a joint venture "BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co., Ltd.". The new company will be 51% owned by BASF and 49% by Shanshan. BASF Shanshan operates four production bases for cathode materials and cathode material precursors in Hunan and Ningxia. The production capacity of new cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries will reach 60,000 tons in 2021 and is expected to reach 90,000 tons in 2022.

On September 16th, Ningde Times established a strategic partnership with BASF in the field of battery material solutions, including cathode active material (CAM) and battery recycling, with the aim of developing a sustainable battery value chain and promoting the localization of Ningde era in Europe.

On October 25, BASF and Honeycomb Energy announced that they had reached cooperation in the development of cathode materials, raw material supply and battery recycling within the scope of their global operations.

According to BASF's plan, the company will establish a global battery material value chain with a global capacity of 160000 tons by 2022. At the same time, BASF is developing a new chemical process that is efficient and has many advantages, which can recover more high-purity lithium from the battery, avoiding waste and reducing the carbon footprint compared to the existing process.