In a statement, the company said the equipment will turn out 218,000 metric tons of non-grain-oriented electrical steel after its completion in 2024. The output is meant to help meet automotive demand for electrical steel. 

"Materials for electric mobility are going to shape tomorrow's steel markets to an increasing extent. We intend to be a leading player in this with high-tech products from Bochum,” said Heike Denecke-Arnold, thyssenkrupp Steel’s chief operations officer. 

“The new annealing and isolating line will further strengthen our capabilities in thinner, highly silicized, non-grain-oriented electrical steel for electric mobility. With our steels, we will contribute to further increasing energy efficiency, for example, and with that also the range of electric vehicles."

The equipment will produce strip in widths from 700 mm to 1,350 mm and in thicknesses from 0.2 mm to 1 mm. SMS group has been contracted to build the line. 

“The cutting-edge annealing and coating technology used in this line ensures greater sustainability, energy and CO₂ savings, hand in hand with cost reductions during commissioning and operation,” said Holger Behrens, head of SMS group’s flat-rolled products area. 

“The line will be equipped with intelligent digital systems, and is certain to deliver very high productivity with reduced maintenance costs," he said.