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outlook?","what-does-the-powerco-umicore-jv-mean-for-europes-cathode-outlook","article/what-does-the-powerco-umicore-jv-mean-for-europes-cathode-outlook",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":556,"content":566,"excerpt":683,"featured":51,"reporter":684,"_editable":688,"component":689,"seo_title":543,"categories":690,"visibility":696,"author_company":49,"featured_image":697,"seo_description":683,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":702,"formattedArticleDate":703},"39fbac07-92b7-4a46-8261-0d0c1ef9dc1e","2022-09-28 00:00",[550,553],{"slug":551,"name":552},"europe","Europe",{"slug":554,"name":555},"umicore","Umicore",[557],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":560},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":561,"image":562,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":563},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":567,"content":568},"doc",[569,586,591,596,601,606,611,616,621,628,633,638,643,648,653,658,671],{"type":570,"attrs":571,"content":572},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[573,576,584],{"text":574,"type":575},"A 3 billion euro joint venture between Volkswagen’s battery company ","text",{"text":577,"type":575,"marks":578},"PowerCo",[579],{"type":580,"attrs":581},"link",{"href":582,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":583},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/vw-spins-out-battery-business-as-it-eyes-north-american-gigafactory","url",{"text":585,"type":575}," and Umicore could add an extra 50% to Europe’s cathode capacity by the end of the decade, according to Benchmark.",{"type":570,"attrs":587,"content":588},{"textAlign":49},[589],{"text":590,"type":575},"The joint venture will have a production capacity of 160 gigawatt-hours a year of cathode materials by 2030, the two companies said, enough for 2.2 million electric vehicles. Current forecast cathode capacity for Europe is 325 GWh by that date, according to Benchmark.",{"type":570,"attrs":592,"content":593},{"textAlign":49},[594],{"text":595,"type":575},"Thomas Schmall, chief technical officer at PowerCo, described the joint venture with Umicore as the “start of a new era of vertical integration.”",{"type":570,"attrs":597,"content":598},{"textAlign":49},[599],{"text":600,"type":575},"China currently dominates battery cathode production, and is set to produce 78% of the global supply this year, according to Benchmark. This is set to increase to 87% by 2030, unless there is further investment from companies in Europe and the US.",{"type":570,"attrs":602,"content":603},{"textAlign":49},[604],{"text":605,"type":575},"Europe has started to develop legislation to cut its reliance on China and control more of its own supply of battery materials. Earlier this month, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced the Critical Raw Materials Act, which will introduce targets for local sourcing of raw and refined materials for the battery supply chain.",{"type":570,"attrs":607,"content":608},{"textAlign":49},[609],{"text":610,"type":575},"A suggested target could be 30% of the refined lithium used in batteries be sourced from within the EU.",{"type":570,"attrs":612,"content":613},{"textAlign":49},[614],{"text":615,"type":575},"Schmall said that that “laws and decisions will force everyone to invest in local regions.”",{"type":570,"attrs":617,"content":618},{"textAlign":49},[619],{"text":620,"type":575},"“We are looking more and more for local-for-local,” he said, “EU-for-EU, China-for-China, and North America for North America.”",{"type":622,"attrs":623,"content":625},"heading",{"level":624,"textAlign":49},4,[626],{"text":627,"type":575},"Dash for growth in Europe",{"type":570,"attrs":629,"content":630},{"textAlign":49},[631],{"text":632,"type":575},"Umicore is rapidly expanding capacity in Europe. Last week the company began operations at a new cathode materials plant in Nysa, Poland which will have 40 GWh capacity in 2024. The company says it could reach up to 200 GWh in the second half of the decade, providing enough cathode materials for 3 million electric vehicles.",{"type":570,"attrs":634,"content":635},{"textAlign":49},[636],{"text":637,"type":575},"The first 60 gigawatt hours equivalent of refined metals required by the joint venture with PowerCo will be exclusively provided by Umicore, it said. The two companies will then collaborate on sourcing the remainder of supply.",{"type":570,"attrs":639,"content":640},{"textAlign":49},[641],{"text":642,"type":575},"“We are working closely with PowerCo to see how we can locally source from the EU within the second half of the decade,” Mathias Miedreich, chief executive of Umicore, said at a press conference on Monday.",{"type":570,"attrs":644,"content":645},{"textAlign":49},[646],{"text":647,"type":575},"Benchmark’s Cobalt Forecast shows that in 2022 Umicore will produce 10,000 tonnes of refined cobalt, about 8% of global demand from batteries.",{"type":570,"attrs":649,"content":650},{"textAlign":49},[651],{"text":652,"type":575},"It also will produce just under 20,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate in Europe this year, fulfilling around 5% of the global demand from batteries.",{"type":570,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":575},"Refining and recycling may be added to the JV at a later date, utilising Umiore’s intellectual property that will be shared between the two companies, the companies said.",{"type":570,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"textAlign":49},[661,663,669],{"text":662,"type":575},"Umicore, which has operated ",{"text":664,"type":575,"marks":665},"recycling facilities",[666],{"type":580,"attrs":667},{"href":668,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":583},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/battery-production-scrap-to-be-main-source-of-recyclable-material-this-decade",{"text":670,"type":575}," since 2011, recently announced plans to build the largest recycling facility in Europe, with 150,000 tpa capacity. PowerCo will process scrap in house at the recycling facilities at its Salzgitter gigafactory.",{"type":570,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674,676,681],{"text":675,"type":575},"Launched ",{"text":677,"type":575,"marks":678},"in July",[679],{"type":580,"attrs":680},{"href":582,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":583},{"text":682,"type":575},", VW’s PowerCo aims to eventually operate six battery cell factories in Europe along with partners such as Northvolt. It began construction of its first plant in Salzgitter, Germany, in July, which is expected to reach 40 GWh of annual capacity, enough for 500,000 vehicles.","A 3 billion euro joint venture between Volkswagen’s battery company PowerCo and Umicore could add an extra 50% to Europe’s cathode capacity by the end of the decade, according to Benchmark. The joint venture will have a production capacity of 160 gigawatt-hours a year of cathode materials by 2030, the two companies said, enough for […]",[685],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":686},{"job_title":561,"image":687,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},{"filename":563},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"39fbac07-92b7-4a46-8261-0d0c1ef9dc1e\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[691,694],{"slug":692,"name":693},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":695,"name":298},"cathode","private",{"id":49,"alt":698,"name":698,"focus":698,"title":698,"source":698,"filename":699,"copyright":698,"fieldtype":700,"meta_data":701,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/9954e276a4/bm-16242-rbm-cathode-materials-plant-in-nysa-highres.jpg","asset",{"alt":698,"title":698,"source":698,"copyright":698},"Sep 28, 2022","28th September 2022",[],[],1781023443240]