[Courtesy of Solus Advanced Materials]
Solus said its board endorsed the proposed investment of 240 billion won in its subsidiary, Volta Energy Solutions (VES), which will own the foil factory in Canada. Construction is to begin in July with an injection of 400 billion won, including 240 billion won from Solus and 160 billion won from Skylake Equity Investment, a private equity firm based in South Korea.
Battery foils made of aluminum and copper are used as anodes and cathodes for secondary batteries. Foils work as the bridge between external components and internal lithium-ion transports. "We will target the North American market, one step ahead of our competitors on a stable funding base, to enjoy the preemptive effect," Solus chief financial officer Kwang Keun-man said in a statement on June 28.
Solus Advanced Materials, formerly known as Doosan Solus, has stepped up the production of copper foils to meet growing demands from electric vehicle battery producers. In April 2022, Solus's subsidiary in Hungary secured a five-year contract to provide copper foils to Automotive Cells Company (ACC), an automotive battery producer in Europe.
Copper foils will be shipped from 2024 to ACC in France. The Hungarian plant would produce ACC-specific battery foils. Solus said that its strategy is to establish itself as a partner with ACC to research and develop core materials for electric vehicle batteries. ACC was established by Stellantis and TotalEnergies together with its subsidiary Saft in August 2020 to create an innovative European battery player for electric vehicles.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
