NEO Battery Materials Ltd announced that it has entered into a binding agreement with its preferred contractor and expects construction of the South Korean Commercial Plant to begin in August 2023.
The company, which is focused on electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion battery materials, said in mid to late August, the contractor will break ground for the site clearance, civil engineering, and foundational construction work.
“The binding agreement with our preferred contractor has come at the right time as we continue actively cooperating with global battery manufacturers and EV automakers to optimize the materials for commercial-level specification and use,” NEO Battery Materials CEO Spencer Huh said in a statement.
“Together with the help of Gyeonggi province, we will build out the Commercial Plant strategically through the use of grants, subsidies, and strategic investments across the South Korean battery supply chain,” Huh added.
NEO noted that it has negotiated favourable project budgets, construction work deliverables, and other necessary terms with the contractor during the past month for the timely completion of the Commercial Plant, targeted by the first half of 2024.
The company added that the facility will supply low-cost, high-performance silicon anode materials to EV battery cell manufacturers in South Korea and across US and Europe.
With an initial capacity of 240 tons per year, NEO Battery Materials will scale the manufacturing capacity up to 5,000 tons to supply approximately 3 million EVs annually.
NEO Battery Materials focuses on producing silicon anode materials through its proprietary single-step nanocoating process, which provides improvements in capacity and efficiency over lithium-ion batteries using graphite in their anode materials. The company intends to become a silicon anode active materials supplier to the EV industry.
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