South Korean battery materials producer POSCO Future M Co. said on Friday it will inject 1 trillion won ($765 million) into its joint venture with General Motors Co. to double cathode production capacity and build its first precursor plant of the venture in North America by 2026…With the new funding, the 85:15 JV, Ultium CAM, will build a second cathode materials plant and its first precursor factory…They will likely be constructed in Becancour, Quebec, where Ultium CAM is building a $633 million plant to produce up to 30,000 tons of cathode materials per year. It is scheduled to be completed by 2024…Its annual production volume there will be enough to supply lithium nickel-cobalt-aluminum oxide (NCA) cathode materials to about 300,000 electric vehicles using 60-kilowatt hour (kWh) batteries…The capacity expansion plan was unveiled shortly after their JV secured its second massive supply deal from Ultium Cells, a battery manufacturing JV between GM and LG Energy Solution Ltd…Under the binding agreement, Ultium CAM will supply 13.2 trillion won ($10 billion) worth of high-nickel cathode materials to Ultium Cells over nine years, starting in 2025…Once the second cathode plant is completed, Ultium CAM will be able to more than double its cathode production capacity to 63,000 tons per year. Its precursor factory will have an annual capacity of 45,000 tons…A precursor is an intermediate material for a cathode and processes minerals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese…POSCO Future M's new investment comes after the Canadian federal government and Quebec province last month announced the provision of C$300 million ($220 million) in incentives for Ultium CAM's facilities in the country…The capacity expansion in Canada is part of preemptive efforts to meet growing demand for EVs in North America while complying with the US battery component requirement, POSCO said…Detroit-based GM will boost EV manufacturing capacity to produce up to 1 million units annually in North America by 2025. To do so, it will set up four battery cell JVs in the US to produce 160 gigawatt hours of battery cells.

General Motors Co and South Korea's POSCO Future M said they will invest more to expand the production capacity at their chemical battery materials facility in Canada, taking their estimated total investment in the plant to over $1 billion…The companies said on Friday the new investment in their Ultium CAM plant, expected to start operating in 2025, will be used to set up additional facilities for local on-site processing of critical minerals used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries…The companies had invested about $327 million in the plant last year, according to media reports…The latest investment in capacity is expected to support GM's target to build 1 million EVs in North America by 2025 as major automakers push to make them more accessible to consumers and eventually establish cost parity with internal combustible engines…The latest investment from GM and POSCO comes days after Canada's federal government and the Quebec province each provided about C$150 million ($112 million) for the facility in Becancour, Quebec that will produce cathode active material (CAM) for EV batteries…CAM includes components such as processed nickel, lithium and other materials that make up about 40% of the cost of a battery. 

Morocco's government and China-based battery maker Gotion High Tech have agreed to look into setting up an electric vehicle battery plant in the kingdom with up to $6.3 billion in eventual investment, Morocco's investment agency said…The agency, AMDIE, gave no details on when a final decision on the plant would go ahead but said the two sides were looking at a factory with a production capacity of 100 gigawatts…Moroccan officials have often pitched the kingdom as a good location for very large EV battery factories because of its existing automotive and renewable energy sectors and the presence of raw materials including cobalt and phosphates…Morocco is home to production plants for Renault and Stellantis with a combined production capacity of 700,000 vehicles and a cluster of car part makers.

China is poised to extend incentives for electric-vehicle purchases as part of broader efforts to shake off a sluggish post-pandemic period…The foundation for China’s economic recovery is not yet solid, the nation’s state radio reported late Friday, citing a State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang. China will therefore extend and optimize new-energy vehicle purchase tax exemptions, the report said, without giving more detail…People familiar with the matter said earlier on Friday an extension was being considered for some clean cars for another four years. One of those measures may be extending the purchase tax break for EVs and plug-in hybrids that cost less than 300,000 yuan ($42,400), one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private…China has been promoting its EV industry for more than a decade with generous incentives to consumers and subsidies to automakers…Deliveries of EVs and plug-in hybrids rose about 36% from January through April, according to the China Passenger Car Association, though that’s a much slower pace than the 128% growth for the same four-month period last year.

Major Chinese automaker Geely is in the early stages of planning an entry to Thailand's electric vehicle (EV) market, including weighing models for import and local manufacturing, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions…The considerations include whether to market an entry-level electric car in Thailand as well as an electric pickup truck from its new Radar brand, the people told Reuters, asking not to be named because the talks remain private…Thailand, the world's tenth-biggest auto producer, is searching for new investments as it seeks to protect and diversify a manufacturing base that has been heavily reliant on Japanese brands and combustion engines. The country aims to convert around 30% of its annual production of 2.5 million vehicles into EVs by 2030, according to a government plan…Thailand offers some subsidies for EVs, provided automakers commit to bringing production of cars and parts to the country over a period of several years…Geely, which owns a portfolio of brands including Swedish automaker Volvo, Polestar, Lotus and Zeekr, doubled its stake in luxury carmaker Aston Martin in May…It also has a presence in Southeast Asia through a 49.9% stake in Malaysian carmaker Proton.

Stellantis will invest 160 million euros ($176.13 million) at its Rennes plant to launch a 100% electric compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in 2025, the Franco-Italian-American car manufacturer said on Thursday…Stellantis will use the investment to set up a battery assembly workshop as well as one dedicated to plastic injection moulding, it said in a statement, adding the vehicle's launch will happen on the future STLA Medium platform…Stellantis, which like many carmakers is shifting towards producing more environmentally-friendly vehicles, plans to sell only electric cars in Europe by 2030.