Hunan Yuneng plans cathode material factory in Spain

Hunan Yuneng New Energy Battery Material, a Chinese company, is recognised as one of the world’s leading suppliers of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials, a key component of the widely used LFP batteries in electric vehicles. The company’s customers include global battery leader CATL and the electric vehicle and battery group BYD.

Hunan Yuneng has now begun construction of a new LFP cathode material factory in Mérida, located in the Spanish region of Extremadura. The facility will be built in the ExpacioMérida industrial park, covering a site of 54,800 square metres. The project is expected to create 500 direct jobs at the factory. The total investment amounts to €800 million, of which €200 million will be provided as subsidies.

The project is divided into several phases. In the first stage, approximately €125 million will be invested in a plant with an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes of LFP cathode material. A later expansion to 300,000 tonnes per year is planned. Hunan Yuneng has not yet disclosed the buyers for the material, but the battery factories currently under construction by Envision AESC in the Extremadura region, CATL and Stellantis in Saragossa, and VW subsidiary PowerCo in Sagunt near Valencia are likely candidates.

According to Guillermo Santamaría Galdón, Regional Minister for Economy, Employment, and Digital Transformation of Extremadura, this project represents the first factory of its kind in Europe. The company has now secured all necessary permits to begin construction. The Mérida City Council has granted the building permit, allowing the project, which has been in preparation since 2023, to transition from the administrative phase to the construction phase.

forococheselectricos.com, merida.es (both in Spanish)