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interest in second Asia gigafactory brings home South Korea’s battery dominance","teslas-interest-in-second-asia-gigafactory-brings-home-south-koreas-battery-dominance","article/teslas-interest-in-second-asia-gigafactory-brings-home-south-koreas-battery-dominance",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":764,"featured":51,"reporter":765,"_editable":769,"component":770,"seo_title":553,"categories":771,"visibility":788,"author_company":49,"featured_image":789,"seo_description":764,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":793,"formattedArticleDate":794},"e2c2cce6-9394-42fc-9801-d9552580f7da","2022-12-16 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"south-korea","South Korea",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":570},"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":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,598,603,608,613,618,625,630,635,640,645,650,655,664,669,674,679,684,689,694,699,704,709,714,719,724,729,734,739,744,749,754,759],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk recently named South Korea as a strong candidate for the carmaker’s next electric vehicle factory, highlighting the country’s growing presence in the battery supply chain.","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586,588,596],{"text":587,"type":582},"In a video call with President Yoon Suk Yeol last month Musk said that South Korea was among Tesla’s top choices for a gigafactory in Asia,",{"text":589,"type":582,"marks":590}," according to",[591],{"type":592,"attrs":593},"link",{"href":594,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":595},"https://www.president.go.kr/newsroom/briefing/hHMkJdZn","url",{"text":597,"type":582}," the president’s office. Tesla, he said, was also willing to expand its supply chain cooperation with South Korean companies and would buy components worth $10 billion in 2023.",{"type":577,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":582},"Musk is looking to expand Tesla’s footprint outside of its plant in Shanghai, Tesla’s first gigafactory in Asia and also its first outside the US, as he looks to increase the electric vehicle maker’s annual production from 2 million vehicles last year to 20 million by the end of the decade.",{"type":577,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":582},"Tesla’s Shanghai factory started production in late 2019 and quickly helped Tesla scale up significantly, accounting for over half of its deliveries last year. ",{"type":577,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":582},"Tesla’s is also being courted by the government of Indonesia to build a gigafactory in the country, the largest nickel producer. ",{"type":577,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":582},"Musk said the decision will be made after comprehensively reviewing the investment conditions of the Asian candidate countries, including their manpower, technology level, and production environment.",{"type":619,"attrs":620,"content":622},"heading",{"level":621,"textAlign":49},4,[623],{"text":624,"type":582},"South Korea’s advantages",{"type":577,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":582},"South Korea is not only home to LG Energy Solution, the world’s second largest battery maker and a key supplier for Tesla, but it is set to be the second largest producer of battery cathodes this year after China, according to Benchmark. ",{"type":577,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":582},"It’s also a free trade agreement country, which makes minerals processed in the country eligible for US electric vehicle tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act.  ",{"type":577,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":582},"Still Tesla may face competition securing battery materials in the local market from South Korea’s largest battery producers, according to Evan Hartley, an analyst at Benchmark.",{"type":577,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":582},"South Korea is home to three large battery companies, LG Energy Solution, SK On, and Samsung SDI, all of whom have expanded rapidly expanded production over the past decade.",{"type":577,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":582},"They now account for a little over 12% of the global lithium ion battery capacity being built while Chinese companies currently have a 69.6% share, according to Benchmark’s Gigafactory Assessment.",{"type":577,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":582},"“I think if you are a foreign company investing in South Korea, you are going to struggle against their battery industry,” he said. “The government there is going to prioritise SK, LG and Samsung there. If Tesla does decide to set up shop in Korea then the supply chain there is entirely locked up and it will be difficult to break into.”",{"type":577,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"type":659,"attrs":660},"image",{"id":49,"alt":661,"src":662,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":663},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/c5feae24e0/bm-southkorea-batteries.png",{},{"type":619,"attrs":665,"content":666},{"level":621,"textAlign":49},[667],{"text":668,"type":582},"South Korea’s growing cathode production ",{"type":577,"attrs":670,"content":671},{"textAlign":49},[672],{"text":673,"type":582},"South Korea currently produces 20% of the world’s high nickel NCM 811 cathode materials and almost half of the supply of NCA cathodes, which are used by Tesla. ",{"type":577,"attrs":675,"content":676},{"textAlign":49},[677],{"text":678,"type":582},"Growth in cathode supply from South Korea is expected to increase by 87% by 2030 compared to 69% from the next largest producer Japan, according to Benchmark’s Cathode Forecast, helping the country maintain its position as the second-largest producer after China. ",{"type":577,"attrs":680,"content":681},{"textAlign":49},[682],{"text":683,"type":582},"The bulk of that jump in cathode supply will come from EcoPro and Posco at 107 GWh, or 143,000 tonnes a year and 54 GWh, or 74,000 tonnes a year, by the end of the decade.",{"type":577,"attrs":685,"content":686},{"textAlign":49},[687],{"text":688,"type":582},"In October EcoPro said it has completed the construction of the world’s largest cathode material production line in Pohang. ",{"type":577,"attrs":690,"content":691},{"textAlign":49},[692],{"text":693,"type":582},"The critical material produced at the facility, however, would be supplied to Samsung SDI once it begins commercial production in the first quarter of 2023. The cathode producer’s capacity from the 60:40 joint venture is expected to reach 43 GWh, or 57,000 tonnes a year, by the end of the decade, according to Benchmark Cathode Forecast.",{"type":577,"attrs":695,"content":696},{"textAlign":49},[697],{"text":698,"type":582},"A month later Posco said it had finished construction of a large facility for high-nickel battery cathodes in Gwangyang city. The facility will increase production from 30,000 tonnes to 90,000 tonnes.",{"type":577,"attrs":700,"content":701},{"textAlign":49},[702],{"text":703,"type":582},"Last month, Chinese Tesla supplier CNGR also signed an agreement with the local government in Pohang to build a cathode precursor and nickel sulphate factory in the city. ",{"type":619,"attrs":705,"content":706},{"level":621,"textAlign":49},[707],{"text":708,"type":582},"IRA Boost",{"type":577,"attrs":710,"content":711},{"textAlign":49},[712],{"text":713,"type":582},"South Korea’s domestic suppliers could also get a boost from the IRA, which was signed into a law by the President Joe Biden in August. ",{"type":577,"attrs":715,"content":716},{"textAlign":49},[717],{"text":718,"type":582},"It requires electric vehicle makers to extract or process a certain percentage of the value of the battery minerals from countries with which the US has a free trade agreement (FTA) to obtain half of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credits. ",{"type":577,"attrs":720,"content":721},{"textAlign":49},[722],{"text":723,"type":582},"“We do expect to fully meet the IRA’s requirements,” Musk told analysts in October.",{"type":577,"attrs":725,"content":726},{"textAlign":49},[727],{"text":728,"type":582},"By 2024 a total of 40% of the value of the critical minerals in the battery needs to come from the US or a free trade agreement country. That contribution rises to 80% by 2027.",{"type":577,"attrs":730,"content":731},{"textAlign":49},[732],{"text":733,"type":582},"Since South Korea is an FTA country, materials processed in the country should be eligible. ",{"type":577,"attrs":735,"content":736},{"textAlign":49},[737],{"text":738,"type":582},"Posco is building a nickel refinery in the country and a lithium hydroxide refinery with Australian lithium miner Pilbara Minerals. ",{"type":577,"attrs":740,"content":741},{"textAlign":49},[742],{"text":743,"type":582},"The steelmaker is aiming to finish construction of a high-purity nickel refining plant in Gwangyang by the first half of 2023 with an annual capacity of 20,000 tonnes, enough for 500,000 electric vehicles. ",{"type":577,"attrs":745,"content":746},{"textAlign":49},[747],{"text":748,"type":582},"Still, Korean companies heavily rely on the Chinese supply chain for raw materials and the IRA effectively bans the involvement of Chinese companies as “foreign entities of concern.” ",{"type":577,"attrs":750,"content":751},{"textAlign":49},[752],{"text":753,"type":582},"China’s GEM Co, which is a supplier to EcoPro, has said that production of precursor materials in South Korea will make it eligible for the US market, though that is not confirmed yet by US authorities. ",{"type":577,"attrs":755,"content":756},{"textAlign":49},[757],{"text":758,"type":582},"On the back of this understanding last month GEM signed an initial agreement with with EcoPro and Korean battery producer SK On for a 30,000 tonnes a year nickel processing plant in Indonesia.",{"type":577,"attrs":760,"content":761},{"textAlign":49},[762],{"text":763,"type":582},"Posco also recently signed a RMB 5.9 billion deal with Guangdong Dowstone Technology for supplies of NCM precursor materials.","Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk recently named South Korea as a strong candidate for the carmaker’s next electric vehicle factory, highlighting the country’s growing presence in the battery supply chain. In a video call with President Yoon Suk Yeol last month Musk said that South Korea was among Tesla’s top choices for a gigafactory in […]",[766],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":767},{"job_title":568,"image":768,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"e2c2cce6-9394-42fc-9801-d9552580f7da\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[772,774,777,779,782,785],{"slug":773,"name":263},"anode",{"slug":775,"name":776},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":778,"name":299},"cathode",{"slug":780,"name":781},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":783,"name":784},"ev","EV",{"slug":786,"name":787},"geopolitics","Geopolitics","private",{"id":49,"alt":661,"name":661,"focus":661,"title":661,"source":661,"filename":790,"copyright":661,"fieldtype":791,"meta_data":792,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/1013b02d42/bm-tesla.jpg","asset",{"alt":661,"title":661,"source":661,"copyright":661},"Dec 16, 2022","16th December 2022",[],[],1792773921513]