South Korea’s Lotte Energy Materials Corporation (LEMC) has signed a deal to become the exclusive supplier of copper foil for StarPlus Energy LLC‘s first electric vehicle (EV) battery plant currently under construction in the US state of Indiana, according to local reports.
Starplus Energy, the battery manufacturing joint venture between global automaker Stellantis and South Korean battery-maker Samsung SDI Company, is scheduled to complete construction of the plant in the first quarter of 2025 – with a production capacity of 33 GWh batteries per year.
The joint venture is also building a second battery plant in Indiana with a similar output capacity, scheduled to be completed in 2027. The two partners are investing a combined US$6.4bn in the two plants, which will drive Stellantis’ electrification strategy in the second half of the decade and create 2,800 new jobs.
High-strength copper foil, a thin layer that surrounds the lithium-ion battery anode, is essential in making safe, high-density rechargeable batteries. LEMC, one of South Korea’s largest copper foil producers, is understood to have been the only company to have provided copper foil that passed SPE’s stringent quality tests, which are said to take up to one year.
