South Korea’s steel pioneer POSCO under POSCO Holdings Inc. is preparing to take another big stride as an eco-friendly materials provider with its latest steel manufacturing facilities being built in Gwangyang, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, that will produce its premium electrical steel for electric vehicle motors.
The construction of a new electrical steel factory inside POSCO’s Gwangyang Steelworks in South Jeolla was still underway last Thursday when the site was unveiled to the media.
A pile of equipment and machines inside the 240,000-square-meter factory, however, suggests POSCO has no issue with its initial plan to complete the first phase of the factory construction by October this year.
This means the Korean steel giant will be able to churn out 150,000 tons of Hyper NO steel per year from the new factory from this fall.
By October next year, POSCO will finish the second and last construction phase, which will enable the new factory to produce 300,000 tons of Hyper NO steel in total.
Combined with the existing Hyper NO production facility in Pohang, home to POSCO, the steelmaker will be capable of producing total 400,000 tons of Hyper NO steel in late 2024. This is enough to make drive motors for 5 million EVs every year.
EV BOOM A BOON TO HYPER NO
Hyper NO is the brand of POSCO’s non-oriented electrical steel with homogeneous magnetic properties in all directions, making it a perfect core material for electric motors, like EV drive motors, and large power generators.
POSCO is pinning high hopes on this premium steel product in the EV era.
Hyper NO boasts high magnetic flux density and significantly low core loss. The electrical steel with low core loss can speed up the motor and extend the EV driving range.
Hyper NO is high-efficiency electrical steel with a core loss of 3.5 watts per kilogram. Its demand is rapidly increasing in line with the growing EV market.
This is one reason why POSCO in April last year poured 1 trillion won ($767.2 million) into building the Hyper NO factory in its Gwangyang steel plant, Korea’s biggest steel mill.
POSCO is equipped with the world’s leading technology that can produce Hyper NO steels with a thickness of 0.15 millimeters, the thinnest in the world. The thinner the better for preventing electrical energy loss during the motor running.
“POSCO’s Hyper NO boasts 30% less energy loss than ordinary electrical steel,” said Ahn Hyeong-tae, the head of POSCO’s Hyper NO advancement task force. “POSCO is the only Korean steelmaker that can produce electrical steel.”
Hyper NO steel sheets are made from hot rolled coil after going through annealing to remove scales and recrystallize them as well as insulation coating.
GREEN MATERIALS PRODUCER
Along with Hyper NO, POSCO will continue to strive to further advance its GIGA steel, the brand for its advanced high-strength steel for automotive use.
Demand for its high-strength steel is also growing thanks to its light weight, while maintaining strength. EVs need light materials because of the battery pack that makes EVs 25% heavier than combustion-engine cars in general.
POSCO has been capable of producing 1 million tons of GIGA steel since September 2021. It in May completed its integrated GIGA steel processing facility in POSCO-CSPC, at POSCO’s steel processing center in Suzhou, China.
It also plans to add the GIGA steel line to its automotive galvanized iron plant with a production capacity of 900,000 tons a year now under construction.
With the two cutting-edge automotive steel technologies, POSCO will accelerate its transformation into a green materials company.
Its parent POSCO Holdings was officially launched in March last year with a goal to nurture the steel group into an eco-friendly future materials producer.
