BYD Co. is considering acquiring lithium assets in Brazil as the company seeks to lock in a supply of the raw material to expand its production of electric vehicles outside Asia, according to foreign news reports on 12 October.
The Chinese company's new EV plant in Brazil will include a unit that processes lithium and iron phosphate for international markets, and BYD hopes to have the plant completed in less than two years, said Stella Li, BYD's global vice president.
"We prefer to buy any available and affordable resource, but it needs to be competitive. At the same time, BYD is leaning toward having some mining operations in Brazil," Li said in an interview in Sao Paulo.
Latin America has become a hotspot for automakers seeking to mine metals used in electric cars as the industry shifts from fossil fuels to electric vehicles.
Stellantis NV and mining company Rio Tinto Group are ramping up investment in a large copper mine in Argentina, while Ford Motor Co. recently struck a deal with Chilean lithium producer SQM.
Li was part of a BYD executive delegation that visited Latin America, including the company's chairman and founder Wang Chuanfu. In Chile - the country with the world's largest lithium reserves - Wang met with President Gabriel Borique to discuss accelerated electrification and the development of the local lithium industry.
BYD is investing 3 billion reais ($594 million) in northeastern Brazil to build its first electric-car plant outside Asia and plans to set up a research and development centre to advance the technology of a flexible-fuel hybrid engine. Chinese rival Great Wall Motor Co. plans to start producing its first prototypes in China next May.
"We will build this plant quickly," Li said. "We need to make sure that all the cars we sell here in the future are 100 per cent made here. BYD will become like a Brazilian company."
[Source - CKNews.com]
