IBU-Tec & PowerCo sign battery supply deal

According to the contract, IBU-Tec will produce LFP cathode material for automotive applications for PowerCo at its Weimar site from 2026 onwards. The aim is to achieve full utilisation of IBU-Tec’s entire current production capacity for LFP battery materials of over 3,000 tonnes per year by 2028.

The total volume of the production agreement with PowerCo amounts to a mid-double-digit million-euro amount in the first three-year period after the start of production. As a result, IBU-tec expects a significant increase in Group sales revenues in the years 2026 to 2028.

In addition to the battery material supply deal, IBU-Tec Advanced Materials and PowerCo also signed a development agreement and an additional long-term supply contract for European LFP cathode material based on this agreement. Under the development agreement, IBU-Tec and PowerCo will jointly develop an industrial manufacturing process for LFP cathode material in Europe.

Based on the manufacturing process to be developed, IBU-Tec has committed to PowerCo to significantly expand its own production capacities for the corresponding LFP cathode material by adding another production facility at its Bitterfeld site. It has been agreed that IBU-tec’s capacities for manufacturing battery materials will be increased approximately fivefold. Construction of the new plant is scheduled to begin this year and be completed by 2028 at the latest. Following the expansion of production capacity, PowerCo has secured the entire volume of LFP battery material produced at the plants over a period of ten years as part of a long-term agreement.

“The JDA and the long-term agreement with PowerCo mark a milestone for our company. After years of market and product development, we are now leveraging our expertise to generate economic success that drives IBU-tec into a new stage of growth,” said Jörg Leinenbach, CEO of IBU-tec advanced materials AG, adding: “We are proud to have found in PowerCo a strong and reliable partner who shares our vision for the battery market.”

Ulrich Weitz, Chief Product Officer and founder of IBU-tec advanced materials AG, further elaborated their plans: “Together with PowerCo, we are strengthening the European and North American value chain for LFP cathode material. IBU-tec thus also has a blueprint for sustainable long-term growth, both in the battery sector and in other future-oriented markets in which the IBU-tec Group operates.”

IBU-Tec has been diversifying its business in Europe for some time now; for example, the company started processing cathode foils recently as part of its recycling efforts. At the start of last year, a new process for recycling LFP batteries was revealed, just after the company announced that it was intensifying its development work in the field of sodium-ion batteries.

For its part, the Volkswagen subsidiary PowerCo has also been ramping up its battery production capacities and recently announced progress in developing solid-state battery technology. An ongoing cooperation with QuantumScape was also intensified recently.

ibu-tec.com, ibu-tec.com (battery materials)