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dominance","south-koreas-sk-agrees-us-anode-deal-in-move-to-reduce-china-dominance","article/south-koreas-sk-agrees-us-anode-deal-in-move-to-reduce-china-dominance",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":550,"content":560,"excerpt":677,"featured":51,"reporter":678,"_editable":682,"component":683,"seo_title":543,"categories":684,"visibility":699,"author_company":49,"featured_image":700,"seo_description":677,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":705,"formattedArticleDate":706},"22676708-3fa8-43d2-9293-61346400cbd4","2023-01-20 00:00",[],[551],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":554},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":555,"image":556,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":557},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":561,"content":562},"doc",[563,570,575,580,585,600,605,610,615,622,627,632,637,642,647,652,657,662,667,672],{"type":564,"attrs":565,"content":566},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[567],{"text":568,"type":569},"South Korean battery maker SK On has made a further move to diversify its supply chain away from China, agreeing to support US-based startup Urbix to develop production of anode materials in the country. ","text",{"type":564,"attrs":571,"content":572},{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":569},"The Arizona-based company said the agreement would help it move forward with plans to build an anode production facility in the US with an initial capacity of 1,000 tonnes a year, increasing to 28,500 tonnes a year by 2025.",{"type":564,"attrs":576,"content":577},{"textAlign":49},[578],{"text":579,"type":569},"That would be enough for between 300,000 to 400,000 electric vehicles by 2025, according to Benchmark estimates. ",{"type":564,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":569},"The deal is the latest effort by Korean battery companies to source battery raw materials from the US or countries that are compatible with the provisions of the US Inflation Reduction Act, which requires battery minerals to come from the US of free trade agreement countries.  ",{"type":564,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588,590,598],{"text":589,"type":569},"Last year LG Energy Solution signed an agreement with ",{"text":591,"type":569,"marks":592},"Syrah Resources",[593],{"type":594,"attrs":595},"link",{"href":596,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":597},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/tesla-secures-us-graphite-supplies-with-syrah-deal","url",{"text":599,"type":569}," to evaluate graphite anode material from Syrah’s Vidalia production facility in Louisiana, which is under construction. ",{"type":564,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":569},"Production of anode material in North America is set to exceed 110,000 tonnes a year by 2030, according to Benchmark. Yet the region is still set to be short around 500,000 tonnes a year by that date without further investment in local production, leaving it reliant on imports. ",{"type":564,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":569},"SK counts Ford, Hyundai and Volkswagen as customers and is building a gigafactory in Georgia set to be operational in 2023 and another three with Ford set to be operational in 2025. ",{"type":564,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":569},"“As such, it is essential for the company to secure localised battery components for these plants, and in doing so from a US-based operational plant, SK will also receive manufacturing benefits under the provisions of the IRA,” said Tony Alderson, analyst with Benchmark.",{"type":616,"attrs":617,"content":619},"heading",{"level":618,"textAlign":49},4,[620],{"text":621,"type":569},"China’s dominance",{"type":564,"attrs":623,"content":624},{"textAlign":49},[625],{"text":626,"type":569},"Still, catching up to China will be a challenge and will require significant investment. ",{"type":564,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630],{"text":631,"type":569},"Last year China produced nearly all of the world’s spherical graphite supply for battery anode materials and is set to maintain that dominance through the end of decade without further investment outside of the country. ",{"type":564,"attrs":633,"content":634},{"textAlign":49},[635],{"text":636,"type":569},"North America is only set to account for 6% of global anode production by 2025, according to the Benchmark Anode Forecast.",{"type":564,"attrs":638,"content":639},{"textAlign":49},[640],{"text":641,"type":569},"“In regard to the anode market as a whole, 28,500 tonnes [from Urbix] is a drop in the ocean, making up less than 1% of the forecasted total anode market production by 2025,” Alderson said.",{"type":564,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"textAlign":49},[645],{"text":646,"type":569},"“That being said, in regard to the ex-China markets, it makes up just under 15% of supply.” ",{"type":616,"attrs":648,"content":649},{"level":618,"textAlign":49},[650],{"text":651,"type":569},"Counting the carbon cost of anode production",{"type":564,"attrs":653,"content":654},{"textAlign":49},[655],{"text":656,"type":569},"Normally battery anodes contain a blend of natural and synthetic graphite. ",{"type":564,"attrs":658,"content":659},{"textAlign":49},[660],{"text":661,"type":569},"But natural graphite is cheaper and has a lower carbon footprint than synthetic graphite, making it more attractive to automakers, Alderson said. ",{"type":564,"attrs":663,"content":664},{"textAlign":49},[665],{"text":666,"type":569},"In addition, Urbix claims its processes are more environmentally friendly than natural graphite processing in China. ",{"type":564,"attrs":668,"content":669},{"textAlign":49},[670],{"text":671,"type":569},"Urbix claims that its processes use 90% less energy than standard purification processes in and avoides the use of hydrofluoric acid. ",{"type":564,"attrs":673,"content":674},{"textAlign":49},[675],{"text":676,"type":569},"“This agreement is meaningful in increasing the possibility of securing eco-friendly and high-performance anode active materials for use in SK On’s U.S. plants,” said Sun Heeyoung, a vice president at SK.","South Korean battery maker SK On has made a further move to diversify its supply chain away from China, agreeing to support US-based startup Urbix to develop production of anode materials in the country. The Arizona-based company said the agreement would help it move forward with plans to build an anode production facility in the […]",[679],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":680},{"job_title":555,"image":681,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},{"filename":557},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"22676708-3fa8-43d2-9293-61346400cbd4\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[685,687,690,693,696],{"slug":686,"name":261},"anode",{"slug":688,"name":689},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":691,"name":692},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":694,"name":695},"geopolitics","Geopolitics",{"slug":697,"name":698},"graphite","Graphite","private",{"id":49,"alt":701,"name":701,"focus":701,"title":701,"source":701,"filename":702,"copyright":701,"fieldtype":703,"meta_data":704,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/8c1464a62c/bm-urbix-graphite.png","asset",{"alt":701,"title":701,"source":701,"copyright":701},"Jan 20, 2023","20th January 2023",[],[],1781715078860]