Chemicals giant BASF and metal oxide specialist Toda Kogyo have agreed to form a joint venture for Li-ion cathode active materials (CAM). The firms will combine their respective CAM businesses, intellectual property and production assets in Japan.

The new venture, BASF Toda Battery Materials, will produce a broad range of cathode materials, including Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA), Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO) and Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM). These materials are used in lithium-ion batteries for the automotive, consumer electronics and stationary storage markets.

The new venture will have an annual combined production capacity for CAMs and their precursors of approximately 18,000 metric tons.

“BASF’s joint venture with Toda Kogyo will allow us to accelerate our growth and expansion in the global battery materials market,” said Kenneth Lane, President of BASF’s Catalysts division. “By combining our manufacturing and technology expertise, we can serve our customers with the broadest cathode materials portfolio in the industry, while continuing to innovate for the future.”

Dr. Joerg-Christian Steck, President of BASF Japan, added, “Japan is a leader in battery manufacturing and development. By forming the joint venture, BASF is strengthening its commitment to the Japanese market and increasing synergies for our existing battery materials business.”

“Because the lithium-ion battery market continues to expand globally, we concluded that we need a strong alliance partner that would enable us to create more value than simple consolidation and to advance our cathode materials business synergistically,” said Toda Kogyo Chairman Tadashi Kubota. “By forming a joint venture, we are confident that we will be able to strengthen safety, quality, cost competitiveness and global coverage and provide these key factors to the market to drive our joint success in this industry.”

Source: BASF via Green Car Congress
Image courtesy of BASF/Flickr