BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Toda Kogyo Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.todakogyo.co.jp) have announced that they will enter exclusive negotiations to collaborate in cathode active materials (CAM) and its respective precursors in North America.
The proposed collaboration would focus on the manufacture of a broad range of CAM and its respective precursors in North America for use in lithium-ion batteries for the automotive, consumer electronics and stationary storage markets.
Toda Kogyo and BASF, which have already collaborated in Japan in the form of BASF Toda Battery Materials LLC., would combine their respective CAM businesses in North America to strengthen their alliance in the global market. BASF would have a majority ownership stake in the proposed collaboration.
“This proposed collaboration builds on the already successful relationship between BASF and Toda and reinforces BASF’s commitment to the North American cathode materials market,” says Kenneth Lane, president of BASF’s Catalysts division (www.catalysts.basf.com). “We look forward to working with Toda to expand our mutually rewarding relationship, allowing us to combine our cathode materials expertise to serve the growing North American market,” Lane adds.
“In contrast to the highly mature mobile electronics and IT industries, the automotive lithium-ion battery market is still in its infancy period. Starting last year, due to a stronger demand in China, the U.S. and the E.U. market, over 30% growth per annum is now expected in the coming years. In order to achieve a top position in this supply market, we must continue to maintain and improve our strong capabilities in safety, cost competitiveness, product performance, supply capacity and recycling areas,” says Tadashi Kubota, chairman of Toda Kogyo. “This proposed collaboration in North America plus the existing collaboration in Japan will create additional synergy effects on a global scale allowing us to achieve this goal and will further strengthen our presence in the market. We will continue to provide the appropriate response to the fast growing needs of our customers and this industry,” Kubota adds.