[2024 Green Mobility] POSCO, Value Chain from Battery Raw Materials to Production and Supply

Technology Award

POSCO Group has established a value chain that uniquely produces and supplies secondary battery materials from raw materials to finished products worldwide. The group has set a goal to produce 610,000 tons of cathode materials, 320,000 tons of anode materials, 300,000 tons of lithium, and 220,000 tons of nickel by 2030, aiming to achieve sales of 41 trillion KRW in the secondary battery materials business. With a lithium production capacity of 423,000 tons, POSCO plans to become one of the global top three lithium companies. The POSCO Philbarar Lithium Solution plant, which produces ore lithium, is the first in Korea to directly produce high-purity lithium hydroxide for electric vehicle secondary batteries from ore lithium raw materials. Additionally, the group is participating in the development of essential infrastructure for future transportation means such as Urban Air Mobility (UAM).

POSCO International has completed a drive motor core factory in Mexico to target the eco-friendly vehicle parts market in North America. The factory manufactures drive motors for electric and hybrid vehicles and plans to supply them to automakers in the North American region. The company is securing competitiveness in the global market by establishing production plants in the United States and Europe and signing supply contracts for drive motor cores with Hyundai Motor Group.

To improve the driving range of eco-friendly vehicles, enhancing cathode material performance, increasing motor efficiency, and vehicle lightweighting are crucial. POSCO Group is the only company in the world that produces high-nickel cathode material lithium hydroxide, a high-capacity secondary battery material, Hyper NO, a high-efficiency non-oriented electrical steel sheet that drastically reduces energy loss and improves motor efficiency, and Giga Steel, an ultra-high-strength lightweight steel sheet.

POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks High-Efficiency Eco-Friendly Electrical Steel Plant
[Photo by POSCO]

POSCO Group has succeeded in domesticating the production of lithium hydroxide, which was previously entirely dependent on imports. In December last year, the POSCO Philbarar Lithium Solution lithium hydroxide plant was completed in the Yulchon Industrial Complex in Jeollanam-do. The group aims to establish a production system for 43,000 tons per year of lithium hydroxide for secondary battery materials based on Australian ore lithium by 2024. Furthermore, POSCO domestically produced the electric dialysis membrane, a core component of the lithium production process, for the first time in collaboration with the domestic small and medium enterprise W Scope Korea, achieving cost reduction and a stable supply system for parts.

On the same day, POSCO Group completed the first phase of the Hyper NO plant with an annual production capacity of 150,000 tons at the POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks to respond to the expanding global demand for eco-friendly vehicles and premium home appliances steel. The group aims to complete a total annual production system of 400,000 tons of Hyper NO by constructing the second phase plant, including 300,000 tons in Gwangyang and 100,000 tons in Pohang. This amount is sufficient to produce drive motor cores for approximately 5 million electric vehicles.