Category: Battery (Page 4 of 6)

Chinese-owned Volvo Cars and Northvolt AB will set up a research facility in Gothenburg with aim to build EV batteries in Europe

2021-12-10 / Robert Vinet

The companies said Friday they’ll set up a research facility in Gothenburg, Sweden next year that will sustain “a few hundred” jobs. They’ll decide on a specific location for their battery factory in the region early 2022.

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Volvo Cars has gained more than a third since its October trading debut in Stockholm as investors bought into the company’s turnaround and promise of an electric future. The carmaker owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. plans to sell only fully electric vehicles by the end of this decade — up from 4% of shipments in the three months trough September.

Elsewhere » Automotive News Europe / Reuters

Toyota to build a electric vehicle battery factory in North Carolina

2021-12-06 / Robert Vinet

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge »

Toyota will build a $1.29 billion battery factory in North Carolina in an effort to bring some of its electric vehicle supply chain to the US. The news comes on the heels of Toyota’s announcement that it will invest around $13.6 billion in battery tech over the next decade, including a $9 billion investment in production, as it attempts to electrify its vehicle lineup.

Toyota plans on spreading the $1.29 billion for the new factory over the next decade, but production at the facility is scheduled to begin in 2025, said Chris Reynolds, chief administrative officer for Toyota Motor North America. In the first year, Toyota plans on producing 1.2 million battery packs for its upcoming lineup of electric vehicles, Reynolds said.

“This investment, which I believe is so far the largest private capital investment in North Carolina history… will create at least 1,750 new jobs and help us develop and localize automotive battery production,” Reynolds said during a press conference, “which will pave the way for battery electric vehicles built here in the United States of America.”

Elsewhere » SeekingAlpha / Wall Street Journal / Green Car Reports / Reuters

U.S. automakers want to develop a reliable domestic battery supply

2021-12-06 / Robert Vinet

Yale Climate Connections »

Like the chips, most battery cells are made abroad. But as U.S. automakers go electric, they want to develop a reliable domestic supply.

“We’re very focused on bringing the supply chain here, but bringing it here in a sustainable way, and also at a competitive cost,” says Michael Maten, a senior strategist for EV and energy policy at General Motors.

GM intends to make all its new cars emissions-free by 2035. To support that goal, the company plans to build four battery cell factories in the U.S.

The worldwide scramble for EV battery metals is just beginning

2021-12-02 / Robert Vinet

Stephen Wilmot / Wall Street Journal 🔒 »

Electric vehicles highlight the problematic opportunity for miners. Although a Tesla or Porsche Taycan doesn’t have a tailpipe and usually generates much less carbon than a traditional car over a multiyear lifespan, its big lithium-ion battery requires more metal than an internal combustion engine. Consulting firm Rystad Energy expects annual lithium demand from EVs and energy storage to rise by a factor of more than 20 times by 2030 compared with last year’s level.

Lithium-ion batteries also contain cobalt, nickel, copper and aluminum. And this isn’t just about batteries: Solar panels, wind turbines, charging stations and the grid infrastructure to tie them together will all need masses of metal. There is talk of a new “supercycle,” with specialist stocks such as lithium miner Albemarle pricing in astronomical growth.

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The scramble for new mining prospects is likely just getting started. Canada is a particularly appealing destination. In addition to ample resources, it offers proximity to the big U.S. market, favorable geopolitics and good environmental, social and governance credentials. These matter more than ever because today’s supplies of battery metals come with huge ESG and geopolitical challenges that are tough to reconcile with the environmental problem they are supposed to solve, not to mention Washington’s goal of lessening U.S. dependence on China.

Chinese companies are going to great lengths to secure the global supply of lithium

2021-11-30 / Robert Vinet

The race is on to secure the global supply of lithium, a necessary component in the production of batteries for EVs.

Bloomberg »

Even though China’s lithium reserves rank as the world’s fourth largest, the silvery metal is mainly found in the salt lakes around Tibet and Qinghai, a sparsely populated Chinese province spread across the high-altitude Tibetan plateau. That makes it difficult to refine and transport. While the production of lithium carbonate from Qinghai Lake has doubled this year, demand still outpaces supply, according to Dong Yang, the vice president of leading automotive think tank China EV 100. To make up the shortfall, China imports about 70% of lithium from overseas. And with the prospect of even more lithium needed as the EV revolution picks up speed, companies are stepping up efforts to secure supply for its dominant refinery sector.

Ganfeng Lithium, one of the world’s top lithium producers, bid for a stake in Canada’s Millennial Lithium in July, while battery making giant CATL, led by billionaire Zeng Yuqun, joined the race a few months later, trumping Ganfeng. In the end, it was a third company, Lithium Americas, that emerged victorious (although Ganfeng is a shareholder in Lithium Americas). Undeterred, Ganfeng in September bought out its partner, International Lithium, in the Mariana project in Argentina, one of the biggest deposits globally. Last month, Zijin Mining paid around $755 million cash for Neo Lithium, a Canadian group that also has operations in Argentina.

Carmakers are getting in on the action too, with BYD earlier this month inking a four-year supply deal with Do-Fluoride New Materials for at least 56,050 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate through December 2025. Lyu Xiangyang, the cousin of BYD founder Wang Chuanfu whose loan helped Wang establish the company in 1995, also has investments in spodumene, a lithium-bearing raw mineral, in Sichuan province, which should bolster BYD’s future supplies.

Meanwhile » Stellantis said it has secured a five-year supply of battery-grade lithium hydroxide to support its plans to convert to 98% electrified vehicles by 2025. » Washington Post »

Stellantis, the company that combined PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler, signed a binding agreement with Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd. in Germany, which uses geothermal energy to produce the battery-quality lithium hydroxide from brine without using fossil fuels. Vulcan will supply between 81,000 metric tons and 99,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide over the five-year term of the agreement.

Nissan will spend 2 trillion yen (USD$17.59 billion) over five years to accelerate electrification to catch up with competitors

2021-11-30 / Robert Vinet

Nissan Leaf

Reuters »

This is the first time Japan’s No.3 automaker, one of the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle (EV) makers with its Leaf model more than a decade ago, is unveiling a comprehensive electrification plan.

Nissan will be spending twice as much as it did in the previous decade for a share of the EV market as rivals, including Toyota Motor Corp and newer entrants such as Tesla Inc, move ahead with their electric-car plans.

Nissan said on Monday it will launch 23 electrified vehicles by 2030, including 15 electric vehicles (EVs), and wants to reduce lithium-ion battery costs by 65% within eight years. It also plans to introduce potentially game-changing all solid-state batteries by March 2029.

Elsewhere » Nissan Media Release / Bloomberg

Toyota looking at North Carolina site for US-based battery plant

2021-11-19 / Robert Vinet

Bloomberg »

Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to invest billions of dollars in a battery plant to be built on the outskirts of Greensboro, North Carolina, as part of the automaker’s efforts to ramp up output of electrified vehicles in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter.

The car manufacturer hasn’t made a final decision, but is expected to partner with Panasonic Corp. at the facility, said some of the people, who declined to be named as the discussions are private. No formal commitment has been made and the plan could still evolve, these people said.

While details of the ownership and operation of the plant are still unclear, it will likely be via the two Japanese companies’ battery joint venture Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, one of the people said. Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said nothing new had been decided regarding the company’s U.S. battery investments. Prime Planet spokesman Masato Tokuhisa said the company is “always considering what’s best in regard to our production,” without commenting on specifics. Panasonic spokeswoman Yayoi Watanabe declined to comment.