Battery materials company Umicore said it and car manufacturer Volkswagen’s new battery company PowerCo are to explore a deal to supply PowerCo’s future Gigafactory in North America.
The non-exclusive agreement would make PowerCo an important customer for Umicore’s planned battery materials production plant in Ontario, Canada.
This facility would combine the production of precursor and cathode materials. That would add to Canada’s battery value chain from natural resources to electric mobility, said Umicore.
The company said it is in negotiations with several potential customers for production contracts in North America. These will form the basis for its final investment decision. It expects to start construction of its Ontario Gigafactory in 2023 and operations at the end of 2025.
It said it has the potential to reach an annual production capacity capable of powering approximately one million EVs by the end of the decade. The plant could start supplying PowerCo as of 2027, with up to 40GWh annually by 2030, equivalent to about 550,000 EVs.
Umicore and PowerCo agreed in September to form a joint venture in Europe to produce battery materials for about 2.2 million electric vehicles a year by the end of the decade.
