FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German chemicals maker BASF has struck an agreement with South Korean electric-vehicle battery cell manufacturer SK On to evaluate opportunities to work together on lithium-ion batteries with a focus on North America and Asia.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the two companies said they would initially look into cathode materials production, which has been an area of major global investment for BASF.
Other potential areas of collaboration at a later stage include battery recycling, they added.
BASF has said cathode materials, the most complex and most expensive chemical component of an automotive battery, and battery recycling would likely generate sales of more than 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) by 2030 for the company.
That would be driven by annual growth of the global market for automotive battery materials of about 22%, it has said.
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