China’s BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, plans to build a $290-million lithium cathode factory in Chile’s northern Antofagasta region, Chilean economic development agency CORFO said.
The South American country’s government has named BYD Chile a qualified lithium producer, CORFO said, giving it access to preferential prices for lithium carbonate quotas.
BYD, which supplies electric buses for Chile’s public transportation system, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
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The plant will produce 50,000 tonnes per year of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) for cathodes, using lithium carbonate as an input. It is scheduled to start operating in 2025 and generate 500 jobs, CORFO said in a statement late on Wednesday in Chile.
“We hope to give a strong boost to promote the generation of products in the lithium value chain,” CORFO executive vice president Jose Miguel Benavente said.
On Thursday, President Gabriel Boric pledged to nationalise the lithium industry in Chile, the world’s second-largest producer of the metal essential in EV batteries, to boost its economy and protect its environment.
- Reuters, with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena
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