It will produce battery cells for electric cars and will be built in two phases with an initial investment of €715 million, according to electrive.com. Production is expected to start in 12 months and the factory would be capable of producing more than 40 million battery cells per year by 2025.
The company has not yet determined the location of its new European factory. Eurocell says it is in talks with locations in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain. The final choice would "largely depend on getting the right level of support and investment from central government".
Eurocell says the company's new European location will lead to the creation of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs and boost the economy in a strategic sector crucial to achieving Europe's net-zero emissions ambitions.
Originally founded in South Korea in 2018, Eurocell brands its batteries as "UFC High Power" and "UFC High Energy", with UFC standing for "Ultra-Fast Charging". Eurocell says it uses a nickel-manganese cathode and an LTO anode, which is made from lithium titanate. This material is known to allow high charge and discharge rates of up to 10C. A weakness of this technology has so far been its relatively low energy density, which is why LTO batteries are used in electromobility, for example in buses, where battery installation space is less important than in cars.
It remains to be seen to what extent these battery cells are suitable for use in electric cars. Eurocell also raises the prospect of their use in stationary energy storage systems, where energy density would probably not be such an issue, but the long life of the cells would be an advantage.
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