EV battery maker CATL plans $5-billion China recycling facility

BEIJING (Reuters) - Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd plans to build a battery material recycling facility in the central Chinese province of Hubei with an investment of up to 32 billion yuan ($4.96 billion), the electric-vehicle battery maker said on Tuesday.

The company's announcement comes at a time when global demand for electric vehicles has surged, which makes securing battery materials a key task for the industry.

China, the world's biggest car market, has also set standards and policies to promote battery recycling and save materials.

A CATL unit will form a joint venture with Hubei Yihua Chemical Industry Co Ltd to recycle used EV batteries for chemicals such as cobalt and lithium, the company said in a filing.

Last month, CATL said it had agreed to acquire Canada's Millennial Lithium Corp, as it looks to shore up the supply of key ingredients for EV batteries.

The leading EV battery maker in China, CATL's list of customers include a swathe of automakers such as Tesla Inc and Volkswagen AG.

($1 = 6.4526 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)