Welcome to Work in Process, the monthly feature that gives you a round-up of all the latest stories from what's happened in the Process Manufacturing industry. Each month we'll be covering upcoming projects, new developments and news from across the Europe and the U.S. to make it easier for you to keep up with the latest developments across the industry.
Watch the full video below with Consulting Services Associate and industry expert Cain van Heyningen, or read our top stories below.
Volkswagens has announced it's new company, Powerco, which is set to significantly ramp up the Volkswagen group’s global battery activities. Up to 2030, PowerCo is planning to invest more than €20 billion together with partners to generate annual sales in excess of €20 billion and to employ up to 20,000 people in Europe alone. The initial flagship site of this comprehensive plan will be the gigafactory in Salzgitter, Germany, which will start production in 2025 and eventually ramp up to an annual capacity of 40 Gigawatt hours. Upon the completion of this cell factory, Powerco has plans for 4 more sites throughout Europe, and is already exploring the possibilities for locations in North America. With these new sites, the Volkswagen group also aims to set a new standard in terms of sustainability and innovation. Each factory will be operated purely on electric power from regenerative sources and with eventual closed-loop recycling.
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BASF will build a commercial scale battery recycling black mass plant in Schwarzheide, Germany, at one if its already existing sites. This investment will boost the site’s annual processing capacity with 15000 tons of EV batteries and production scrap.
Dr. Peter Schuhmacher, President, Catalysts division at BASF, stated:
“With this investment in a commercial scale battery recycling black mass plant, we take the next step to establish the full battery recycling value chain at BASF. This allows us to optimize the end-to-end recycling process and reduce the CO2 footprint. The closed loop from end-of-life batteries to CAM for new batteries, supports our customers along the entire battery value chain, reduces the dependency from mined raw materials and enables a circular economy.”
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Umicore N.V. are building a $1.5-billion cathode active material (CAM) and precursor cathode active material (pCAM) plant in Ontario. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Canada to secure a plot 20 minutes northwest of Kingston. The project will will create 1,000 construction jobs and several hundred permanent positions when the plant becomes operational.
During a press conference at Queens University in Kingston, where the initial announcement was made, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated:
“ Umicore’s decision to establish it's new facility in Loyalist Township is another major step forward as we make Canada a global leader in producing electric vehicles — from minerals to manufacturing,”
Trudeau’s statement certainly holds weight, as Umicore is planning to dictate a significant share of the market within the next decade. At full capacity, the battery supply factory will produce enough cathode active materials and precursor cathode active materials for one million vehicles per year. This will equate to take over approximately 20 per cent of the North American EV market by 2030.
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Ontario, which is also the home of Canada’s largest automotive cluster, will see an immense series of investments within the electric vehicle market over the next decade. For example, Chrysler's parent company, Stellantis, has announced that it wil partner with LG Chem to invest over 4 billion us dollars in a lithium-ion battery plant, that will have a production capacity of over 45 gigawatt hours by 2025.
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Additionally, Stromvolt, Britishvolt, General Motors, LG Energy Solutions are among the other high profile companies that are planning to invest in EV manufacturing or battery manufacturing facilities within the next decade.