Japan: Asahi Kasei, Mitsubishi Chemical, Ube Industries, Sumitomo Chemical: Material companies hurry!
-Supply system for battery parts for EV era-
Japanese material companies:
Looking ahead to the full-scale spread of EVs, we will hurry to build a supply system for lithium-ion battery components.
Expanding the supply of battery components
Cost reduction,
Environmental load reduction,
will respond to the global system.
Asahi Kasei Wet Separator:
Asahi Kasei, a major separator company, has further increased production of wet separators.
Consider setting up a wet separator production base in Europe and the United States.
Mitsubishi Chemical’s electrolyte:
Mitsubishi Chemical has developed a technology to improve the productivity of electrolytes.
Introduce new technology to the US, Europe and China to increase production.
separator:
New equipment for raw membranes, which was decided 2-3 years ago, will be launched one after another.
Ube Industries:
Commercial supply of new equipment began in January-March.
Asahi Kasei / Wet Separator:
“Launched new wet separator equipment” in the first half of FY2009 to meet increasing demand.
planning to build a production system that meets demand in 25-26.
Considering the establishment of bases in Europe and the United States in the near future.
The company develops both wet and dry types.
The wet type installed in EVs has high needs for local production in Europe and the United States.
Sumitomo Chemical / Aramid Resin:
In S.Korea, “equipment for applying aramid resin with excellent heat resistance to the raw film” was added.
2021 In S.Korea, the production capacity of heat-resistant separators will be doubled compared to the conventional one.
EV battery parts:
In order to popularize EVs, it is essential to reduce the cost and environmental load of production in order to increase the production of battery components.
Mitsubishi Chemical / Electrolyte:
We have promoted “technological development to increase the productivity of electrolytes by 2-3 times”.
Start introducing from existing equipment in the United States.
The prospect of the 2023 year, to a total of 30,000 tons increase in the United States and Europe.
Sumitomo Chemical / Positive electrode material:
From 2021 to 2022, we will enter the market for positive electrode materials for EVs.
“High nickel-based positive electrode material under development aiming at EV” is under development.
Sumitomo Chemical is a latecomer, so cost is important.
Using the new product as a foothold, we will accelerate the development for the next EV.
Ube Industries / Electrolyte:
Ube Industries has developed dimethyl carbonate (DMC), which is a raw material for electrolytes and the like.
The prospect of 2025, scheduled to start operations in the annual production of 100,000 tons scale in North America.
Currently, North America is “importing DMC from Asia”, and its competitiveness is improving with local production.
Next 1-2 years:
It is time to finish the products and manufacturing technology and decide to build a supply system.
New switch
Northeast Asian Countries Competing in EV Battery Separator Industry
South Korea, China and Japan
are increasingly competing in the battery separator industry with the supply of the key element for battery safety
predicted to be slower down the road than the fast-increasing demand for electric vehicles.
SK ie technology,
a subsidiary of SK innovation,is running a separator manufacturing plant in Changzhou, China and its backlog already goes beyond this year.
The plant has an annual production capacity of 340 million square meters and its commercial production started in November last year.
The current industry leaders are SK ie technology, Asahi Kasei and Toray.
SK ie technology
entered the industry in 2003, when the two Japanese companies were already dominating it.Toray
is also expanding its facilities in Hungary to increase its capacity by 20 percent to 1.5 billion square meters.Semcorp,
the largest separator manufacturer in China,announced last year that it would build a factory with an annual capacity of 400 million square meters in Hungary and its total annual supply would reach 2.8 billion square meters in 2023.
Businesskorea
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