Earlier this month BASF (IW 1000/33) celebrated the grand opening of its new cathode materials production plant in Elyria, Ohio. The materials manufactured at the Elyria plant will be used to produce advanced lithium-ion batteries for next-generation hybrid and full electric vehicles.
Construction of the new cathode materials plant required an investment of more than $50 million, half of which was supported by a grant from the U.S DOE.
“BASF is helping make Ohio the Silicon Valley for clean energy manufacturing. As our reliance on foreign sources of energy grows more and more unsustainable, American consumers will turn to hybrid and fully-electric vehicles – powered by lithium-ion battery materials made by BASF,” said Senator Sherrod Brown.
Brown helped secure a $24.6 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) under the Recovery Act’s Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative to partly fund construction of the facility.
The new four-story, 70,000 square foot cathode materials plant in Elyria leverages state-of-the-art production technologies, and is expected to create approximately 25 new jobs in Elyria
In addition, BASF was selected as one of only two licensed suppliers of ANL-patented Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese (NCM) cathode materials, which employ a unique combination of lithium and manganese-rich mixed metal oxides. The materials being produced in Elyria leverage this advanced NCM chemistry, which is particularly well suited to the production of lithium-ion batteries for automotive and other high-end applications.
“We are delighted to celebrate the launch of this new commercial-scale production plant, which highlights the strong alliance BASF has established with the U.S. Department of Energy and the state of Ohio to deliver advanced battery materials that can provide higher energy density and greater power,” said Frank Bozich, president of BASF’s Catalysts Division.