The company will fund the construction of the new battery material production facility, which is expected to be fully operational in 2012, with the help of a $24.6m grant from the DOE under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
In the US, BASF is one of only two companies licensed to produce Argonne National Laboratory’s patented lithium-stabilized Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese cathode materials for a broad range of uses in lithium-ion batteries.
BASF plans to work on lithium-ion battery application development to offer higher energy density, a longer lifetime and improved safety for electric vehicles at its research centers in Beachwood, Ohio and Ludwigshafen, Germany.
BASF president of catalysts division, Frank Bozich said that the production facility in Elyria will be the company’s center for supplying the market with advanced cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries.
