EcoPro strengthens global presence with Canadian joint venture

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EcoPro strengthens global presence with Canadian joint venture

Published: 23 Aug. 2023, 18:37 Updated: 24 Aug. 2023, 10:07

SARAH CHEA
chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr

EcoPro is aggressively expanding its overseas presence as it aims to become a key player in the fast-growing electric vehicle market.

The Korean battery materials company said Wednesday it will establish a Canadian joint venture, EcoPro Cam Canada, to handle its $886 million cathode plant in Quebec, Canada.

It comes as EcoPro announced in July it will jointly pour 1.2 billion Canadian dollars ($886 million) with SK On and Ford to construct a cathode plant in Quebec, which will be operational from the first half of 2026.

EcoPro CAM Canada will run the production facility, while SK On and Ford will take part as stakeholders in the Bécancour project.

Located in an industrial park in Bécancour, southern Quebec, the 278,000-square-meter (68.7-acre) joint plant will have an annual capacity of 45,000 tons of cathodes.

EcoPro's groundbreaking ceremony for a plant in the Hungarian city of Debrecen in April [ECOPRO]

The Canadian federal government and the local government in Quebec promised financial support worth 644 million Canadian dollars for the project.

The cathodes will be transferred to SK On, which then will be turned into EV batteries and supplied to Ford's EVs. The cathode is one of the major materials required in making EV batteries, accounting for 40 percent of the battery cost.

In April, EcoPro broke ground on its cathode plant in Hungary, becoming the first Korean battery materials maker to have a cathode manufacturing base in Europe.

EcoPro is investing 1.3 trillion won ($970.7 million) in the project, which is set to begin operations in 2025 with an annual production capacity of 108,000 tons. This is enough to produce batteries for 1.35 million EVs per year, the company said.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]