Ecopro Establishes 'Nation's First' Private Partnership Structure for Battery Recycling

Pilot Project with Kia, Hyundai Glovis, Evacycle, and Gyeongbuk Provincial Government

EcoPro has signed the country's first multi-party memorandum of understanding (MOU) based on public-private cooperation to establish a circular ecosystem for electric vehicle batteries.

On the 6th, at the '2023 International Secondary Battery Forum for Global Market Entry' held at the Hilton Hotel Gyeongju on Bomun-ro, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongbuk Province, EcoPro signed an 'Alliance Agreement for Revitalizing the Battery Ecosystem' with Kia, Hyundai Glovis, Evasycle, Gyeongbuk Provincial Government, and Gyeongbuk Technopark.

The signing ceremony was attended by Song Hojun, CEO of EcoPro; Kwon Hyukho, Vice President of Kia; Lee Gyubok, CEO of Hyundai Glovis; Ryu Jihoon, CEO of Evasycle; Lee Cheolwoo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province; and Ha Inseong, Director of Gyeongbuk Technopark.

The participating companies and local governments plan to establish a cooperative structure for recycling the increasing amount of used batteries due to the expansion of electric vehicle adoption, and based on this, launch a pilot project to revitalize the battery ecosystem. A key objective is to establish 'Battery Residual Value Evaluation Standards' to assess the economic feasibility of used battery recycling.

EcoPro will be responsible for the post-processing of used batteries and the manufacturing of precursors, lithium, and cathode materials. Kia will handle the planning of the recycling pilot project and supply of used batteries, while Hyundai Glovis will conduct feasibility studies on used battery recycling. Evasycle will manage battery disassembly and black powder production, and Gyeongbuk Province and Gyeongbuk Technopark will support regulatory improvements and technology development related to used batteries. Black powder is a black powder collected after crushing lithium-ion batteries, containing nickel, lithium, cobalt, manganese, and other intermediate raw materials.

This agreement marks the first battery recycling cooperation in Korea based on public-private collaboration. It aims to build a cooperative system across the entire industry, from secondary battery raw materials to finished vehicles, and collect data on each stage of the battery circular process to verify economic feasibility.

Song Hojun, CEO of EcoPro, said, "EcoPro has established a secondary battery ecosystem at its Pohang campus, securing differentiated competitiveness through vertical integration from battery cathode materials to recycling." He added, "This agreement provides an opportunity to expand the recycling domain from used batteries to electric vehicles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.