Umicore and Automotive Cells Company (ACC) has signed a supply agreement for EV battery materials in Europe.
Meeting the demand for EV battery materials
Umicore will supply ACC’s future large-scale European battery plants with next-generation high nickel cathode materials out of its greenfield production plant in Nysa, Poland. The long-term agreement will start with an annual offtake commitment of 13 GWh to a major platform of a European car manufacturer with the first commercial volumes of EV battery materials expected in early 2024.
Umicore and ACC intend to further develop their partnership with the potential to grow annually supplied volumes for EV battery materials to reach at least 46 GWh by 2030, which is equivalent to powering at least 500,000 EVs per year.
Benefits of this partnership
The partnership supports ACC’s growth and sustainability ambitions by providing ACC access to critical, high-performing, and ethically sourced battery materials for the ramp-up of its European cell production. Additionally, Umicore will also be provided with secured access to substantial demand for its cathode materials and will have the ability to further diversify its exposure to major and diverse players in the EV value chain.
“We are very pleased to partner with ACC and further build on our pioneering role in enabling the fast transition to electric driving,” said Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore. “Our long-standing track record in developing high-performance EV battery materials with industry benchmark quality levels, together with our sustainability leadership and closed-loop approach make us a preferred partner for our customers globally.”
Yann Vincent, from ACC, added: “With this important agreement, which secures the supply of a key component for the battery industry, ACC confirms its ambition to become a European leader for car batteries that allow clean and efficient mobility for all.”
This long-term supply agreement is a major milestone for Umicore’s rechargeable battery materials business and complements Umicore’s recent agreement with ACC on battery recycling, which states that Umicore will be recycling the battery production waste at ACC’s testing facilities in France.
What is Umicore?
Umicore is a global materials technology and recycling group. It focuses on application areas where its expertise in materials science, chemistry, and metallurgy makes a considerable difference. Its activities are organised into three business groups: catalysis, energy and surface technologies, and recycling. Each business group is divided into market-focused business units offering materials and solutions that are at the cutting edge of new technological developments and essential to everyday life.
Additionally, Umicore generates the majority of its revenues and dedicates most of its research and development efforts to clean mobility materials and recycling. Umicore’s primary goal of creating a sustainable value concept is based on an ambition to develop, produce, and recycle materials in a way that fulfils its mission, ‘materials for a better life.’
Umicore’s industrial and commercial operations, as well as their research and development operations – which are investigating operations such as EV battery materials – are located across the world to best serve its global customer base. The group generated revenues (excluding metal) of €4bn (turnover of €24.1bn) and employed 11,050 people in 2021.
What is ACC?
ACC was founded in August 2020 and is the result of an initiative undertaken by Stellantis and TotalEnergies — together with its subsidiary, Saft — recently joined by Mercedes-Benz, and strongly supported by France, Germany, and the European Union. ACC intends to combine the expertise of these three major companies with complementary skills and experience. ACC’s ambition is to become a European leader in car batteries that allow clean and efficient mobility for all. The research and discovery centre and the testing facilities in Nouvelle-Aquitaine are just the beginning.
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