Milton Keynes, June 26, 2024 (PR) - Integrals Power is accelerating the development and establishment of a more sustainable, more robust, and more transparent supply chain for cathode active materials used in Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries.
The market share of LFP batteries in electric vehicle applications has already risen to 40%2 and is expected to further increase, driven by its lower cost compared to Nickel Cobalt Manganese chemistries (NCM) – helping to make EVs more affordable – and because they are more durable, offering a longer cycle life and greater resistance to repeated fast charging.
However, the vast majority of the cathode active materials used in LFP batteries – around 90%1 – are made in China. With recognition that regionalized, diversified supply chains are essential in supporting continued growth in the Lithium-ion battery market3, Integrals Power is building up a supply chain to the global battery industry that is not reliant on China. Achieving this will help to reduce its carbon footprint, enhance security and transparency, and mitigate geopolitical issues such as import tariffs on electric vehicles.
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Integrals Power is establishing a more sustainable and more transparent supply chain for Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cathode active materials
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Increasing global demand for LFP batteries for electric vehicles requires growing the supply chain outside of China, which currently produces around 90% of the cathode active materials they use
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Strategic milestones achieved by Integrals Power include completion of a robust techno-economic analysis to validate the cost benefits of its LFP materials at the pre-commercial phase, ordering of equipment for a UK pilot plant, and identification of raw materials suppliers
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The joint development agreement with leading mineral development company First Phosphate, signed in 2023, will enable its high-purity phosphoric acid to be used in Integrals Power’s proprietary manufacturing process
- First Phosphate is aiming to produce phosphoric acid in Canada, and should be one of only a handful of suppliers outside of China making this strategically important material
To date, the company has achieved a number of key strategic milestones, including completion of a robust techno-economic analysis to validate the cost benefits of its LFP materials at the pre-commercial phase against current sources of LFP and NCM, ordering of the equipment needed to build a new UK pilot plant – which is expected to start production this year – and identification of raw materials suppliers from the UK, Europe, and North America.
One of the key suppliers is leading mineral development company First Phosphate: the joint development agreement signed between the two firms in 2023 will see First Phosphate’s high-purity phosphoric acid used in Integrals Power’s proprietary manufacturing process: already proven at laboratory scale, the process will be at the heart of the new pilot plant.
An additional £2.8million of funding to enable the facility to be scaled up in the near future has already been secured with grants from the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Innovate UK, and precursors manufactured in partnership with First Phosphate are a cornerstone of the expansion strategy.
Integrals Power Founder and CEO, Behnam Hormozi, said: “Partnering with world-class suppliers who share our focus on sustainability and transparency is a fundamental part of our development process. Producing high-performance cathode active materials for the most demanding applications requires high purity precursors, and that’s why we selected First Phosphate. We place just as much importance on the origin of our raw materials as we do on quality, and so production of the phosphoric acid in North America makes it ideally suited to our industrial strategy”
“Demand for Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries with sustainable and secure supply chains is increasing, which is why we plan to mine one of the world’s cleanest source of igneous phosphate rock – found in Canada – and use it to produce the phosphoric acid that will be a fundamental building block in that supply chain,” said First Phosphate CEO, John Passalacqua. “Our partnership with Integrals Power is accelerating the development of high-performance cathode active materials, and that’s something we’re incredibly proud of.”
