Lotte Enters Electric Vehicle Battery Market... Aggressive Moves Domestically and Abroad

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Lotte, which has entered the electric vehicle battery materials industry, is showing an aggressive expansion. It is pouring generous investments not only into electrolytes, considered a core material, but also into the cathode foil business.

According to the industry on the 26th, Lotte Chemical signed a preliminary feasibility business agreement with Sasol Chemical, the chemical division of global petrochemical company Sasol, for the construction of an electrolyte organic solvent plant.

Lotte Chemical, which is building Korea's first electrolyte organic solvent plant in Daesan, is seeking to expand supply to the US and Europe through a partnership with Sasol Chemical.

They are reviewing business promotion at Sasol’s sites in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA, and Marl, Germany. Sasol will supply the main raw materials, and Lotte Chemical plans to adopt and apply its self-developed EMC and DEC technologies.

Lee Young-jun, head of Lotte Chemical’s battery materials business, said, “The increase in battery demand is simultaneously driving the rapid growth in demand for the four core materials that make up batteries,” adding, “Lotte Chemical will rapidly expand its battery materials business to quantitatively and qualitatively lead the global materials market.”

Last May, with an investment of 210 billion KRW, Lotte Chemical is constructing production facilities for high-purity ethylene carbonate (EC) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC), organic solvents for electric vehicle battery electrolytes, at the Daesan plant, aiming for completion in the second half of 2023. Regarding the separator business, one of the four major battery materials, they plan to expand annual production from the current 7,000 tons to 100,000 tons by 2030, with sales reaching 230 billion KRW.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin also visited Europe and decided to expand investment in cathode foil, a battery material. He is moving to secure a leading position in the rapidly growing European electric vehicle battery market.

On the 18th (local time), during a visit to the Lotte cluster established in the Tatab?nya industrial complex in Hungary, Chairman Shin decided to invest an additional 110 billion KRW to double the production capacity of cathode foil.

Lotte Aluminum’s Hungary plant is the only dedicated cathode foil plant in Europe, capable of producing 18,000 tons annually of cathode foil for secondary batteries.

The Lotte cluster includes not only Lotte Chemical and Lotte Aluminum plants but also the anode foil production plant of Solus Advanced Materials, in which Lotte Fine Chemical and Lotte Aluminum have invested 300 billion KRW. Lotte Construction is jointly investing with a domestic logistics specialist to develop the largest logistics center in Hungary based on a single warehouse.

Meanwhile, in a press conference last May, Lotte Chemical declared its goal to expand battery material solutions and become a global leading battery materials company by investing a total of 4 trillion KRW and achieving annual sales of 5 trillion KRW by 2030.