Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles – Page 66

The EV Race Is Turning a Gold Rush Haven Into a Battery Hub – by Harry Brumpton (Bloomberg News – August 8, 2022)

August 9, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Gold has long dominated the Western Australian city of Kalgoorlie, born in a late 19th Century prospecting rush and home to one of the world’s largest open pit mines, nestled right next to residential streets. Blasts to dislodge precious-metal laced rock from the more than two-mile-long Super Pit still frequently rattle the main street.

As about 2,700 executives, investment bankers, and industry stalwarts gathered in the precious metals hub last week for Australia’s key annual mining forum it was clear where the industry’s focus lies. All attention is on the frantic hunt for battery metals to deliver the world’s shift to electric vehicles.

Lithium Miner Ioneer Finds Workaround for Wildflower That’s Stalling US Project – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – August 4, 2022)

August 5, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A lithium supplier for Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. expects to clear an environmental hurdle involving a rare flower next year, paving the way for deliveries to electric-vehicle makers ahead of looming shortages of the battery metal.

Ioneer Ltd. seeks to build its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada, but the Australian company has been unable to get federal permits because public lands near the site are home to the endangered wildflower Tiehm’s buckwheat. The US Fish and Wildlife Service said in February it planned to designate about 910 acres near the project as a critical habitat for the pale yellow flower.

Sayona on track for first spodumene production in Q1 2023 – by Jackson Chen (Northern Miner – August 4, 2022)

August 5, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA; OTC: SYAXF) has further advanced its planned restart of spodumene production at its North American Lithium (NAL) operation in Quebec, with approximately 30% of plant and equipment upgrades now completed. It remains on track to deliver first concentrates in the first quarter of 2023.

“It is extremely pleasing to see the rapid progress at NAL as we ramp up towards the recommencement of lithium production,” Sayona’s managing director Brett Lynch commented. NAL currently has around 50 construction workers on‐site, with the number expected to double by September.

Elon Musk Suggests Tesla’s Next Gigafactory Might Be In Canada – by Dan Mihalascu (Inside EVs – August 5, 2022)

August 5, 2022

https://insideevs.com/

This is the second time Canada is mentioned as a potential location for the next Gigafactory; official announcement to come this year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on August 4 that an announcement regarding the next Gigafactory could be made later this year.

During a speech at the Gigafactory Texas meeting dubbed Cyber Roundup, the executive talked in detail about Tesla’s vehicle assembly plants. He noted that Tesla opened two new factories this year—Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg and Gigafactory Texas—that are both building the Model Y, with the latter being the only Tesla facility that makes Model Ys powered by 4680 battery cells laid out in structural packs.

Insatiable Lithium Demand Fuels Investment Boom in Australia – by Harry Brumpton and Annie Lee (Bloomberg News – August 4, 2022)

August 5, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — In the rocky deserts of Western Australia, a handful of little-known and once-shunned miners are suddenly in vogue as the electric vehicle industry clamors for a metal it can’t do without.

Executives from Australia’s lithium industry were inundated by bankers and brokers at the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in the outback town of Kalgoorlie this week, talking up deals to secure some of the estimated $42 billion worth of investment needed for metal producers to meet their goals.

EVs are about to break new ground deep, deep under Sudbury – by John Michael McGrath (TVO Today – August 2, 2022)

August 3, 2022

https://www.tvo.org/

Running diesel engines two kilometres belowground would be prohibitively expensive — so this mine is turning to battery power

It would be a lot easier if mining were just a matter of getting ore out from deep underground. But mining is done by miners, and those workers need air they can breathe.

As mining companies go deeper and deeper into the Earth searching for the minerals that go into steel and the other metals that make up modern life — including, now, high-capacity electric batteries — supplying something as basic as fresh air becomes more and more difficult.

Pacific nations are extraordinarily rich in critical minerals. But mining them may take a terrible toll – by Nick Bainton and Emilka Skrzypek (The Conversation – August 3, 2022)

August 3, 2022

https://theconversation.com/

Plundering the Pacific for its rich natural resources has a long pedigree. Think of the European companies strip-mining Nauru for its phosphate and leaving behind a moonscape.

There are worrying signs history may be about to repeat, as global demand soars for minerals critical to the clean energy transition. This demand is creating pressure to extract more minerals from the sensitive lands and seabeds across the Pacific. Pacific leaders may be attracted by the prospect of royalties and economic development – but there will be a price to pay in environmental damage.

New Lithium Mining Technology Could Give Argentina a Sustainable Gold Rush – by Ciara Nugent (Time Magazine – July 26, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://time.com/

The Vasquez brothers aren’t used to visitors. Their farm lies in the Puna, a vast plateau region in the Andes Mountains, some 12,500 ft above sea level and a full day’s drive to the nearest city.

The terrain, in the Argentine province of Catamarca, is rough and largely empty; fluffy, big-eyed llamas wander a miles-wide plain between mountains. Only sparse shrubs pepper the ground, glowing yellow-green Technicolor under the close sun. But one day in 2016, a tall man in his 50s, speaking heavily Australian-accented Spanish, pulled up to the Vasquezes’ remote farmhouse.

Ford Counting On U.S.-Mined Lithium To Power Its EV Growth Plans – by David Blackmon (Forbes Magazine – July 25, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.forbes.com/

Management at Ford Motor Company continues to move aggressively to advance the company’s goals of converting its fleet to electric vehicles in the years to come. The Detroit Free Press reported last week that the company plans to lay off 8,000 of its 31,000 salaried workers as part of a plan to implement $3 billion in budget cuts to try to make its’ struggling EV business unit more financially viable.

The company has announced plans to produce 600,000 EVs by late 2023 and as many as 2 million globally by 2025. But the Ford’s EV sales for the first half of 2022 totaled to just around 23,000 units. While that is a significant rise from the same period during 2021, it is a long way from achieving such aggressive goals.

Threat to Canadian electric vehicle industry dissipates with U.S. Senate deal – by Steven Chase (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A deal struck among Democrats in the U.S. Senate appears to have eliminated a threat hanging over the nascent electric vehicle manufacturing industry in Canada. An agreement announced late Wednesday between Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia gives the Democrats the votes they need to pass a key plank of U.S. President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

The deal would amend Mr. Biden’s climate and health bill and change the terms of tax credits for electric vehicles that as previously written would have only applied to autos assembled in the United States.

Lithium – Portugal’s white gold – by Paul Luckman (The Portugal News – February 18, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.theportugalnews.com/

Mining Lithium in Portugal is a very controversial subject, but there are some simple facts that can’t be ignored.

Sales and manufacturing of electric cars are growing. Governments want to ban petrol and diesel cars. Electric cars need batteries. Batteries need lithium. There isn’t enough lithium available to meet demand. Portugal has lithium.

The price of lithium has quadrupled in the last year. While Chile, Australia, Argentina, and China are home to the world’s highest lithium reserves, other countries also hold significant amounts.

Race to Secure Battery Metals Heats Up as GM, Ford Ink Deals – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – July 26, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Undeterred by the slowing global economy, buyers of key components in the powering of electric vehicles are stepping up efforts to lock in supplies, with two of the world’s biggest automakers signing direct deals with producers of so-called battery metals.

General Motors Co. announced three deals Tuesday for supplies of raw materials needed for its EV fleet. Less than a week ago, Ford Motor Co. revealed a list of suppliers of inputs ranging from Argentine lithium to Indonesian nickel — enough to build 600,000 EVs a year.

Ford adjusts its EV strategy as supply shortages jeopardize sales targets – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 21, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Ford said it will use lower performance batteries for select models in order to meet its electric-vehicle targets

Ford Motor Co. said it will use lower performance batteries for select models in order to meet its electric-vehicle targets, the latest example of how global ambitions to cut greenhouse gas emissions are colliding with the reality of supply chain constraints.

The Detroit-based automaker currently offers two versions of the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning — a standard version and a vehicle with extended range. The latter are powered by lithium-ion batteries that use the nickel, cobalt, and manganese (NCM) chemistry that has become an industry benchmark, and the standard versions use lower performance NCM batteries.

Ford Secures Batteries to Build 600,000 EVs a Year by 2023 – by Keith Naughton and Gabrielle Coppola (Bloomberg/Windsor Star – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://windsorstar.com/

(Bloomberg) — Ford Motor Co. says it has secured enough battery supply to build more than half a million electric vehicles annually by late next year, a quantum leap above the 27,140 battery-powered cars it sold in the US last year.

The automaker has signed contracts with suppliers representing 60 gigawatt hours of annual battery capacity, enough to build 600,000 EVs a year, it said in a statement Thursday. Those suppliers include China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, as Bloomberg previously reported.

New Indonesian nickel supply douses expectations for fresh price rally – by Pratima Desai (Financial Post/Reuters – July 21, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

LONDON — Substantial new nickel supplies from top producer Indonesia in years ahead will ensure prices don’t return to levels that sparked chaotic trading in March, despite robust demand growth from stainless steel and electric vehicle battery makers.

However, prices now around $21,000 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange (LME), though down about 80% since hitting all-time highs in March, are still high enough to incentivise investment in new production capacity.