Argus Media Limited

09/16/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 09/16/2021 07:32

China's XTC to build Sichuan Li-ion CAM plant

China's largest lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) manufacturer XTC New Energy Materials plans to build a production complex for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and lithium nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) oxide in Ya'an city in southwest China's Sichuan province to keep pace with the rapidly growing lithium-ion and electric vehicle (EV) industries.

The 10bn yuan ($1.54bn) facility will have a designed capacity of 100,000 t/yr for LFP and 60,000 t/yr for NCM, which will be developed in several phases. The first phase will have a 20,000 t/yr capacity for LFP and 20,000 t/yr for NCM, with Yn1.2bn and Yn2.2bn investment respectively, and will be put into production in 2023 and 2024. Further details including the construction schedules and launch dates of the other phases were not disclosed.

The firm on 14 September also signed a strategic framework deal with the country's largest CAM precursor producer CNGR to deepen their co-operation on CAM supplies, including XTC New Energy buying 20,000-25,000 t/yr of cobalt tetroxide and 15,000-35,000 t/yr of lithium nickel-cobalt-manganese oxide (NCM) precursors until the end of 2023.

XTC New Energy was formerly the battery materials division of China's major diversified metals producer Xiamen Tungsten, which started research and development of lithium-ion battery cathode materials in 2004. XTC New Energy was incorporated in December 2016 and has operated independently since then, becoming a subsidiary of XTC, which researches, develops, produces and sells lithium-ion battery cathode materials with lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) and NCM as its key products. It has production bases in southeast China's Fujian province. It is the first time that XTC New Energy has added LFP to its product portfolio because of its bullish outlook on the future development of this product.

LFP batteries have lower manufacturing costs and higher safety performance compared with NCM batteries. China's power battery production rose by 161.7pc from a year earlier to 19.5GWh in August, with installed volume up by 144.9pc to 12.6GWh, data from the China Automotive Manufacturers Association (CAAM) show. Production and installed volume of lithium iron phosphate batteries were 11.1GWh and 7.2GWh, respectively, in August, both exceeding volumes of 8.4GWh and 5.3GWh for ternary (NCM/NCA) batteries.

XTC New Energy was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on 5 August this year to raise Yn1.5bn to finance its construction of an NCM facility in Xiamen, Fujian province, with a capacity of 20,000 t/yr.

The firm reported output of 33,750t for LCO and 16,113t for NCM in 2020, accounting for about 42.8pc and 7.5pc of domestic total production. Its LCO and NCM sales increased by 71.69pc and 126.11pc, respectively, during January-June this year.

XTC New Energy has partnerships with major battery firms domestically and overseas including ATL, Samsung SDI, Murata, LGC, Sunwoda, Zhuhai Guanyu and BYD. Products from XTC New Energy are used in the downstream mid and high-end computer, communication and consumer electronics products. It also has long-term partnerships with power lithium battery manufacturers including Panasonic, BYD, CATL, AVIC lithium, EVE Energy and Guoxuan High-tech.