BASF and CATL Sign Strategic Pact for Advanced Cathode Materials 60000 Tons High-Nickel Output by 2025

BASF Battery Materials and CATL have inked a major strategic partnership, aiming to integrate resources and drive global breakthroughs in advanced cathode active materials. The deal leverages BASF’s worldwide production capabilities and aligns with CATL’s international battery plant expansion across Europe and Southeast Asia.

This renewed alliance follows their initial 2021 collaboration in Europe, where BASF supported CATL’s push for local supply chains and battery recycling. CATL now operates factories in Germany, Hungary, Spain, and Indonesia, while BASF is accelerating upstream investments in Europe, China, and other key regions.

CATL’s product range includes LFP, high-voltage and high-nickel ternary, sodium-ion, M3P (LMFP), and advanced solid-state batteries, aligning with BASF’s focus on lithium, sodium, and solid-state cathode materials.

Notably, BASF completed its first fully automated high-performance CAM plant in Germany in 2023 and plans to boost high-nickel cathode production to 60,000 tons per year by 2025, investing over €4 billion globally in the coming years. In Japan, BASF Toda Battery Materials produces NCA/NCM cathodes, further strengthening its supply network.

BASF Shanshan has pioneered 4.45V and 4.5V high-energy-density lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), with 4.53V variants set for mass production by 2026. The company is also advancing high-nickel, rich-lithium manganese, and solid-state battery materials, launching new sodium-ion products and supporting AI-driven applications.

On battery recycling, BASF’s ‘Black Mass’ plant in Germany will process 15,000 tons of spent cells annually from 2025, targeting 10% recycled metals by 2026. BASF’s battery materials now power markets across APAC, Europe, North America, and beyond, offering high-safety, fast-charging solutions for the next wave of electric vehicles.