<article><p class="lead">South Korean battery manufacturer LG Chem will form LG Energy Solution to lead its battery business as of 1 December.</p><p>"We came to the judgment that this is the right time for the corporate spin-off as the battery industry is growing rapidly and structural profits in the electric vehicle (EV) battery sector are being made in earnest," the firm said in a statement. </p><p>The new entity will not only focus on battery materials, cells, pack manufacturing and sales, but also have distinguished competitiveness in the online platform sector that offers various services throughout the lifetime of batteries such as battery care, lease, charging and reuse, the firm said.</p><p>LG Chem plans for the new entity to achieve sales of over 30 trillion South Korean won ($25.53bn) in 2024 and become the world's best energy solutions company based on batteries. Expected revenues from the new entity stand at around W13 trillion this year.</p><p>LG Chem is expanding production to meet growing demand from the EV market, expecting to reach capacity of 100 GWh/yr by the end of this year. LG plans to boost its production capacity in Poland to 70GWh from 15GWh by 2022.</p><p>The firm has more than doubled its EV battery market share this year, overtaking China's CATL as the world's biggest producer. It supplies battery to Hyundai, Kia, Tesla and GM. It expects <a target="_blank" href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2128247">continued gains in sales and profit</a> during July-September as rising EV shipments by European auto producers boost demand for its power packs.</p><p>LG's joint venture with Chinese cobalt producer Huayou Cobalt earlier this month launched the first phase of a production plant for <a target="_blank" href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2140856">cathode material</a> used in power batteries for EVs, in Wuxi city in south China's Jiangsu province.</p></article>
