A new cathode production plant is now under construction in Québec, Canada under a joint venture between GM and South Korean company Posco Chemical. The new facility will supply battery materials for use in future GM electric vehicles.
Per a recent report from French-language outlet Radio-Canada, the facility will cost CA$500 million (US$374,172 at current exchange rates, 2/10/2023), and is located at an industrial park in Bécancour, Québec. The new collaboration between GM and Posco, dubbed Ultium CAM, was finalized late last May. Posco holds the majority stake. Now, workers are pouring the concrete foundation to support a new cathode production facility, with the steel structure scheduled to go up in April.
A diagram of GM’s North American supply chain to support EV production.
The new plant will produce cathodes for use in batteries to be equipped by future GM electric vehicles. Cathode production is expected to kick off around the 2025 calendar year, with roughly 200 new jobs created in the first phase of the plant.
Looking ahead, the facility GM-Posco facility may be expanded, with Ultium CAM eyeing the option of purchasing the entire 36,000-square-meter (387,500-square-foot) lot, only a third of which is currently in use. Ultium CAM expects to expand annual capacity to 30,000 tons of material annually, the majority of which will go to GM’s Ultium Cells battery facilities in the U.S.
Posco also has plans to build a new production line in Gwangyang, South Korea that will have an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons. Additionally, GM and Posco will look to increase the global electric vehicle efforts of the new Ultium CAM joint venture through the expansion of raw materials sourcing, research and development, and marketing.
“The Ultium CAM JV with POSCO Chemical supports GM’s rapid scaling of EV production, as we build a more sustainable and more North America-focused supply chain,” said GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, Doug Parks, during the Ultium CAM joint venture announcement last year.
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