Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 126

OPINION: Is Tesla’s gravity-defying valuation landing back on Earth? – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – September 12, 2020)

September 14, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

At some point, Elon Musk will hop into one of his SpaceX rockets and set up shop on Mars. His goal is to colonize the red planet as well as fill every road and highway on Earth with his electric Tesla cars, for he is a man with galaxy-sized ambitions.

No doubt he will leave an enormous statue of himself behind so that any investor in the distant future who misses his glorious presence can kneel before it, kissing the bronze feet of the dope-smoking executive who turned a low-volume maker of money-losing cars into a company worth more than all its competitors combined.

Well, he did for a few moments. The question is whether those moments will return, given Tesla’s outlandish, gravity-defying valuation. This week, Tesla shares finally cracked after one of the most stupendous rallies ever seen in the tech sector.

There’s nothing perfect for the JSE’s miners in the future offered by the green economy – by David McKay (MiningMX.com – September 11, 2020)

September 11, 2020

Home 2024

In July, Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, issued an unusual public challenge to the world’s mining industry. Commenting during an investor presentation, he dangled the prospect of a “giant contract for a long period of time” to the firm that could supply responsibly-mined nickel.

Nickel is not particularly in short supply. According to a June report by Australia’s Macquarie Bank, previously forecast deficits in nickel for this year until 2025 are now expected to turn into narrow surpluses. This is partly owing to the impact of Covid-19 disease which has dented consumption more than supply, the bank said.

Availability, however, was not behind Tesla’s request. In a world of improving environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) standards, it’s peace of mind that’s harder to source than minerals.

Lithium explorer crunching the numbers to supply electric vehicle battery market – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 10, 2020)

September 11, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A Sudbury lithium hunter with a two large, rich deposits in northwestern Ontario thinks it has the chops to be a major supplier to the North American battery market.

Frontier Lithium has launched a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of a mine and processor for its PAK Lithium Project, north of Red Lake, to examine becoming a “vertically integrated” producer of lithium hydroxide chemicals, the company said in a Sept.9 news release.

Since 2013, the company has outlined two spodumene-bearing lithium deposits, two kilometres apart, that outcrop at surface. Frontier said it’s amenable to low-cost, open-pit mining. Lithium hydroxide is used in batteries for electric vehicles and cell phones.

Battery metals to boom despite widespread Covid-19 disruption (Mining Weekly – September 11, 2020)

September 11, 2020

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Battery metals, which are used in modern energy efficient electrical products, are playing an increasingly important role in climate change mitigation and the shift towards a lower carbon-intensive future.

Battery metals, including lithium, vanadium, copper, cobalt, nickel, lead and graphite, are increasingly used in larger-scale battery storage products and in components used to transmit and distribute electricity.

Two key factors in the green energy transition are technology development and the roll-out of renewable-energy solutions, energy storage devices and electric vehicles (EVs), with solar- and wind-derived electricity generation the frontrunners in terms of green energy production.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS MOUNT OVER USE OF NICKEL IN EVS – by Kieran Ahuja (Sunday Times Driving – September 7, 2020)

September 8, 2020

Home

OF COURSE, as something that has been widely touted as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, the green credentials of pure-electric vehicles have often been called into question.

A large amount of the conversation around this has revolved around the use of cobalt, which is used to aid conductivity and structural stability in lithium-ion batteries, enabling them to last for as long as they do.

However, production of cobalt is sometimes conducted in territories where a blind eye is turned to ethical mining practices, in places such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which produces around 60% of the world supply.

Europe relies on foreign raw materials to power its green and digital future. Now it wants to mine them at home – by David Meyer (Fortune Magazine – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://fortune.com/

The European Union is keen to boost its green and digital ambitions, making them central to its coronavirus recovery plans. But there’s one big problem: raw materials.

Those rare-earth elements needed for the magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines? Some 98% of the EU’s supply comes from China. South Africa provides 84% of the platinum group metals needed for fuel cells and automotive catalysts.

And Europe’s supplies of lithium—critical for battery production and therefore for electric vehicles and renewable-energy storage—come mostly from Chile.

EU adds lithium to critical raw materials list – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

The European Union has added lithium, used in batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), to a list of critical materials that it plans to support locally as part of a strategy to reduce reliance on imported supply.

The group of 27 nations will need about 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt for EV batteries and energy storage by 2050, analysts estimate. EU demand for rare earths, used in high-tech devices and military applications, is predicted to increase 10-fold over the same period.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the world’s increasing reliance on electronics and technology for remote work, education and communication.

Can Indonesia provide Tesla with sustainable nickel? – by Steven Brown (July 25, 2020)

September 3, 2020

Elon Musk recently made headlines again by asking mining companies to produce more nickel and promising big contracts from Tesla. However, Musk’s promise has a big catch: he only wants nickel that is produced in a responsible manner.

Musk’s plea for more nickel comes at an interesting time. There’s certainly no shortage of nickel; not now and not in the foreseeable future. The world has Indonesia to thank for this. Indonesian nickel production has grown from around 100,000 tonnes of processed nickel in 2014, to over 600,000 tonnes in 2020.

It will likely to reach 1.1 million tonnes of nickel by 2022. This sort of growth in unheard of, and will see Indonesia producing half of the world’s nickel in the next two years.

EU sounds alarm on critical raw materials shortages – by Michael Peel and Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – August 2020)

August 31, 2020

https://www.ft.com/

Brussels/London – The EU’s over-reliance on imports of critical raw materials threatens to undermine crucial industries and expose the bloc to supply squeezes by China and other resource-rich countries, the European Commission will warn member states this week.

Shortages of elements used to make batteries and renewable energy equipment could also threaten the bloc’s target of becoming climate neutral by 2050, a report by the Brussels executive will say.

The document is part of an urgent focus in Europe on security of imports of vital goods, as the coronavirus pandemic triggers transport disruption and growing tensions between western capitals and Beijing.

Mining industry yet to fathom scale of battery raw material challenges – Friedland – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – August 28, 2020)

August 28, 2020

https://www.miningweekly.com/

While global electric vehicle (EV) sales are back to a healthy growth trajectory, significant investment in mining capacity is required if EVs are to become anything more than a niche market, says mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland’s Clean TeQ Holdings.

The TSX- and ASX-listed company owns the construction-ready Sunrise nickel/cobalt/scandium project in New South Wales, Australia, and will require just under $2-billion to bring the project to fruition.

Nickel and cobalt, in particular, face substantial raw material challenges, at a time when EV sales growth is expected to drive unprecedented demand for these metals.

According To Tesla CEO Elon Musk, This Metal Is The New Gold – by Charles Morris(Inside EVs – August 24, 2020)

August 25, 2020

https://insideevs.com/

In the popular imagination, lithium is the element that powers EVs. However, as Elon Musk has pointed out, the term “lithium-ion batteries” is something of a misnomer, because they don’t really contain that much lithium.

“Although [they’re] called lithium-ion, the actual percentage of lithium in a lithium-ion cell is approximately 2%,” Musk explained at Tesla’s 2016 shareholder meeting. “Technically, our cells should be called nickel-graphite, because the primary constituent in the cell as a whole is nickel.”

More recently, Musk reiterated the importance of nickel, and made what sounded to some like an urgent plea for more of the stuff. “I’d just like to re-emphasise, any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel,” said Musk during Tesla’s latest quarterly conference call.

Quebec government, Pallinghurst pledging up to $600-million to recapitalize bankrupt Nemaska – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – August 25, 2020)

August 25, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Quebec government and commercial partner Pallinghurst Group are pledging up to $600-million to recapitalize Nemaska Lithium Inc. and vault the chemical company out of bankruptcy protection in a move that highlights the importance of vehicle electrification to the province’s economic strategy.

Nemaska has accepted a purchase offer structured as a credit bid from a group made up of Orion Mine Finance, its biggest secured creditor; Investissement Québec; and Pallinghurst, the Montreal-based company said in a statement Monday.

Pallinghurst is a U.K.-based mining and metals private equity investor that has also invested in Canadian graphite company Nouveau Monde Graphite.

Mines, Minerals, and “Green” Energy: A Reality Check – by Mark P. Mills (Manhattan Institute – July 9, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As policymakers have shifted focus from pandemic challenges to economic recovery, infrastructure plans are once more being actively discussed, including those relating to energy.

Green energy advocates are doubling down on pressure to continue, or even increase, the use of wind, solar power, and electric cars. Left out of the discussion is any serious consideration of the broad environmental and supply-chain implications of renewable energy.

As I explored in a previous paper, “The New Energy Economy: An Exercise in Magical Thinking,”[1] many enthusiasts believe things that are not possible when it comes to the physics of fueling society, not least the magical belief that “clean-tech” energy can echo the velocity of the progress of digital technologies. It cannot.

SQM posts record sales, boosts output despite weak market – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 20, 2020)

August 20, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second largest lithium producer, achieved record second-quarter output levels and saw sales volumes soar on renewed optimism about long-term demand for the metal used in the batteries that power electric vehicle batteries and high-tech devices.

The company said it is now producing at record levels of roughly 70,000 tonnes for the year, which has allowed it to build higher levels of inventory ahead of an expected demand boom.

“Given the demand growth expectations in coming years, we feel comfortable with the higher level of inventories that are being built,” it said.

Could Lithium Shortage Scupper Accelerating Sales Of Electric Cars? – by Neil Winton (Forbes Magazine – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.forbes.com/

Politicians have decreed that Europeans must embrace electric cars, and to make sure, they are trying to force early retirement for internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles. But a shortage of a key battery component, lithium, might scupper that plan and force carmakers to return to the drawing board.

Experts say current supplies of lithium are adequate for the current electric car global market share of about 2.6% and probably will keep pace with the expected growth towards 14% in Europe by 2025. But after that demand will outstrip supply and likely halt the predicted powerful acceleration in electric car sales.

Some politicians, activists and enthusiasts experts expect battery-electric vehicle (BEV) sales to reach close to 50% of the global market by 2030, but lithium supplies are unlikely to come close to matching that required battery demand.