Posco Future M and China's CNGR to Promote LFP Cathode Material Business for ESS

MOU Signed with CNGR to Promote LFP Cathode Material Business
Plans for Establishing Production Facilities and Joint Marketing
Diversifying Portfolio to Include LMR and LFP, in Addition to Existing Ternary High-Nickel Cathode Materials

On August 11, Posco Future M announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China’s Zhongwei (CNGR) to promote the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material business.

Posco Future M signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the 8th at the Posco Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to promote the LFP cathode material business with Zhongwei (CNGR) and Pino. From left, Jongwan Joo, Vice Chairman of CNGR; Taeil Yoon, Head of Energy Materials Business Division at Posco Future M; Bin Li, CEO of Pino. Posco Future M

CNGR’s Korean subsidiary, Fino, also participated in the MOU. Under the agreement, the three companies plan to cooperate on a variety of initiatives, including the establishment of LFP cathode material production facilities for energy storage systems (ESS) and joint marketing efforts.

In 2023, Posco Future M signed a joint venture agreement (JV) with CNGR to collaborate on precursor production, and subsequently established CNP New Material Technology the following year. The ownership structure of CNP New Material Technology is 51% CNGR, 29% Fino, and 20% Posco Future M. With this latest MOU, the companies plan to rapidly review expanding their collaboration beyond precursor production to include LFP cathode materials within their existing joint venture, CNP New Material Technology.

LFP batteries have lower output compared to nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and other ternary batteries, but their advantages include lower cost and longer lifespan, making them increasingly popular in a variety of fields such as ESS and entry-level electric vehicles. In particular, ESS applications have less stringent space and output requirements than electric vehicles and require longer lifespan, which has further increased the preference for LFP batteries. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), as of 2023, LFP batteries accounted for approximately 80% of the global ESS market share.

Posco Future M is diversifying its cathode product portfolio to more proactively respond to changing customer needs. The company primarily produces high-nickel nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum (NCMA) and NCA cathode materials for premium electric vehicles, and in the first half of this year, completed the development of lithium manganese rich (LMR) cathode materials for entry-level and standard electric vehicles. In addition, since March, Posco Future M has formed a task force (TF) with Posco Holdings Future Technology Research Institute to jointly pursue research and development of high-density LFP cathode materials, which offer higher energy density compared to conventional LFP cathode materials.

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