May 23—Another South Korean auto parts supplier has bought land near the StarPlus Energy EV battery plant.

Sangsin Brake America recently bought 11 acres of land just south of where the $2.5 billion EV battery plant is currently being built on the city's far northeast side, according to county property records.

Sangsin is an automotive brake and other friction products manufacturer, according to the company's website. It's the largest brake manufacturer in South Korea.

The company was founded in 1975 as the Sangsin Chemical Industrial Company. Since then, it has expanded to other countries, opening manufacturing plants in China, India, Mexico and, most recently, its U.S. headquarters in the Atlanta suburbs.

Details of Sangsin's plans for a Kokomo operation are currently unclear. The company has not publicly announced anything. A request for comment was not returned.

Sangsin is the third Korean auto supplier to buy land around the EV battery plant, following such purchases by soulbrainMI and Jaewon Industries.

Soulbrain MI, headquartered in Michigan and a subsidiary of South Korea-based Soulbrain Holdings, also purchased land in the area and plans on building a 30,000 square foot electrolyte manufacturing facility. The investment is expected to break ground this year and create 75 jobs by the end of 2025.

In April, Jaewon Industries formally announced its intention to construct two facilities in two phases just south of the EV battery plant.

In the company's first phase, it will construct a 650,000 square foot facility, and in its planned second phase, it will construct a second, smaller 150,000 square foot facility just east of the larger facility.

According to the company, it will disperse conductive slurry and recycle n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) at its facilities. NMP is used as a solvent in the electrode coating of battery manufacturing.

The two facilities will serve battery manufacturers across the U.S. and in Indiana, including the StarPlus Energy EV battery plant.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.