Currently, several battery manufacturers dominate global electric vehicle battery production. One of them is South Korea's LG Chem, which supplies batteries to almost all automakers. According to foreign media reports, the latest news shows that LG Chem has raised its 2020 battery capacity target by about 29%, from electric vehicle batteries that provide energy of 70 gigawatt hours (GWh) to 90 gigawatt hours.
If full production is carried out according to this capacity target, LG Chem's lithium-ion battery (LIB) output and raw material consumption will be greater than the entire lithium-ion battery market's output and consumption in 2015. Assuming LG Chemical produces NMC532 lithium-ion batteries, a 90 kWh battery requires 100,000 tons (100kt) of cathode material, including 40,000 tons of nickel, 22,000 tons of cobalt, 16,000 tons of manganese, and 50,000 tons of lithium ( (Equivalent to carbonate), and 90,000 tons of anode material, that is, 90,000 tons of graphite, and now the electric vehicle (EV) battery market has generally turned to the use of NMC811 lithium-ion batteries.
In order to meet the future lithium-ion battery market demand, LG Chem has obtained a raw material supply chain. In April this year, LG Chemical and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. established a joint venture to build production equipment capable of producing 40,000 tons of precursors and cathode materials each year, and the production capacity will be expanded to 100,000 tons per year in the future. In July this year, LG Chem signed a five-year order with Canadian lithium company Nemaska Lithium, which supplies 7,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year. Last week, LG Chemical also cooperated with Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co., Ltd. (Ganfeng Lithium ) Signed an agreement to supply 16,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year for 3 years starting in 2019. In addition, LG Chem has invested in GS E & C, a South Korean battery anode manufacturer, and holds a 10% stake in Chemco, a South Korean Zinc nickel sulfate subsidiary. With LG's investment, LG Chem has also become an investor in Cobalt Blue's Australian cobalt project Thakaringa.