Understanding lithium demand, page-968

Tesla wants to put low-cost batteries in China-made Model 3

The price of the Model 3 made at Tesla’s Shanghai could be about to be lowered even further, with confirmation that Tesla is seeking approval to use low-cost, no-cobalt batteries.

While the world waits for Tesla to reveal its EV battery developments in a “Battery Day” that is now on hold until June and beyond and which will likely occur over two events, any tidbit about what the Californian car maker is doing with regards to batteries in its electric cars is big news.

Tesla is set to lower the cost of making electric cars by using cheaper batteries, and a deal cut with Chinese battery maker CATL will likely involve lithium iron phosphate technology which does not use expensive cobalt, and may also do away with modules to lessen the cost of making them.

According to Reuters, CATL’s LFP battery packs will cost $US80/kWH, 20% less than the amount industry analysts say will bring electric vehicle prices on par with petrol and diesel vehicles.

As The Driven reported on Friday, CATL boss Zeng Yuqun told the China Daily (Hong Kong edition) that CATL was making progress on its LFP chemistry, as the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reported that a Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) catalogue showed that Tesla was planning to use LFP batteries in locally made Model 3 vehicles.

​

The document cited by CAAM was pulled from the media report, but Reuters has now confirmed that a document submitted to the MIIT does indeed show that Tesla is requesting approval to use the low-cost batteries in China.

This ties in nicely with recent Tesla developments for a few reasons.

For a start, it means that Tesla’s intention to use LFP batteries is well and truly confirmed.

It also, as mentioned, means that Tesla may be able to further reduce the price of its locally made Standard Range Plus Model 3 which it dropped the price of in April to bring in line with China subsidies restrictions.

As Musk said at the company’s first quarter earnings call for 2020 in April, “Localised production in China and in Europe will bring the cost down, making our products even more competitive over time.”

Musk has repeatedly noted that need to use locally made parts in order to bring down the price of electric vehicles. And although Musk said that the price of the China-made Model 3 was dropping, Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn also noted there were opportunities to bring it down further.

“There’s still significant opportunity left to take costs out. So fixed cost absorption from higher production volumes, which are occurring in Q2 and will occur through the rest of the year were not fully localized on the supply chain yet,” said Kirkhorn.

“And so while a lot of the supply chain is localized, it’s not complete, and there’s additional opportunities there.”

Tesla opened the doors of its Shanghai factory in the final days of 2019, and is also expanding its floor space to include Model Y production.

At Tesla’s first quarter earnings call Musk also added that Tesla will also make the Long Range and Performance variant of the Model 3 in China.


Two UK battery startups eye £4 billion EV battery “gigafactory”

A potentially landmark agreement to explore the construction of an electric car “gigafactory” has been signed between two UK startups, AMTE Power and Britishvolt.

The growth of the electric car industry in the UK as car makers wind down petrol and diesel car production has sparked a warning from the UK government-backed Faraday Institution that without more investment in the local battery manufacturing industry, a major opportunity in the form of more than 100,000 jobs could be missed.

Currently, the UK electric car battery industry is led by a battery factory alongside Nissan’s car factory in Sunderland with an annual 2GWh capacity.

A joint venture announced in 2018 between Williams Advanced Engineering and Unipart Manufacturing Group outlined a plan to build another battery making facility in Coventry to build 10,000 battery packs a year, and Unipart has also been chosen as a key player in Jaguar Land Rover’s battery assembly plant.

But these are small fry, in light of the recently released Faraday report which suggests the UK needs to manufacture some 130GWh of electric car batteries a year if it is to maintain its position as the fourth largest car maker in Europe.

If successful, the new memorandum of understanding between AMTE Power and Britishvolt would see as much as £4 billion invested in a new “gigafactory” with a potential 35GWh capacity, enough to rival the likes of Northvolt which has plans to output 32GWH a year at its Swedish battery factory in Skellefteå by 2024, and 24GWH from its German factory in Salzgitter.

While its still a far cry from plans of true electric car battery giants such as the proposed 60GWh that China’s CATL intends to output at its German factory in Erfurt or LG Chem’s planned 70GWh in Wroclaw, Poland, AMTE Power and Britishvolt’s vision is big.

“We are delighted to be working with Britishvolt exploring the creation of a large scale manufacturing facility in the UK,” said Kevin Brundish, CEO at AMTE Power in a statement of the proposed battery factory, which it is diplomatically referring to as a “GigaPlant”.

“The recent global crisis has further highlighted the importance of having a robust onshore supply chain, and the creation of a GigaPlant would place the UK in a strong position to service automotive and energy storage markets.

“The scalable production of lithium ion cells is key to electrifying vehicles and would drive new manufacturing revenues and new employment, and can be built on AMTE’s focus on the supply of specialised cells, thereby continuing the country’s tradition of excellence in battery cell innovation.”

For the relatively young Britishvolt, the chance to align with Scottish AMTE Power, which began life as AGM Batteries Limited, a joint vcenture between Mitsubishi Materials and AEA Technology, GS (GS Yuasa), is a potential coup.

“Aligning our objectives with AMTE Power, who are looking to add to their current manufacturing capabilities in the UK, our ambition is to build a 30+ gigawatt hour factory with the support of the British Government, creating up to 4,000 jobs in the proces,” said Lars Carlstrom, Britishvolt CEO, in a statement.

“Meeting Road to Zero targets and moving the UK into a low carbon economy will necessitate the unprecedented electrification of vehicles, and reliance on renewable energy will require extensive battery storage.

“It is costly and carbon-intensive to have lithium ion batteries imported from the Far East, and this GigaPlant would cement a solid onshore supply chain to ensure quality and eliminate future uncertainty of supply.”

But it will take work.

According to The Guardian, AMTE Power is initially looking to expand its operations which currently include a small battery plant near Thurso, Scotland to include a 1GWh plant either in Dundee oe Teesside, while Britishvolt is considering five sites for a 10GWh capacity plant to be followed by a further 20GWh depending on funding.

Ian Constance, CEO of APC, who introduced the two companies thinks that changes in UK consumer perception of electric vehicles as well as technological advances in battery innovation mean the market landscape is ripe.

“The UK is a highly credible location for green growth investment,” Constance said in a statement.

“It has a rich and diverse supply chain, a rapidly decarbonising energy supply and an innovation culture, and government support through a strong industrial strategy.

“As the pace and scale of change accelerates towards new net zero targets the UK is in a prime position to design, develop, manufacture and export high-value battery technologies.

It is a positive testament that AMTE power and Britishvolt recognise the full potential of the UK and have identified it as a priority for their battery industrialisation explorations.”


Morrison government finally admits there will be electric utes, and EVs can tow caravans

The Morrison government has finally conceded that there will be all-electric utes for tradies, and that models already available in the Australian market are suitable for towing caravans, despite a fear campaign run throughout the 2019 election campaign.

In the lead up to the 2019 federal election, the Morrison government sought to scare voters over the Labor party’s support for electric vehicles, saying that Labor would dictate to Australians which cars they could drive and that the Morrison government would instead “save your ute”.

The Morrison government also claimed that the Labor party’s election platform included plans to “end the weekend”, by supporting electric vehicles that would not be able to tow a caravan or pull a trailer.

However, in response to ‘questions taken on notice’ by senator Simon Birmingham on behalf of federal energy minister Angus Taylor during a session of Senate Estimates held in March, the government has now conceded that its fear-mongering in the election campaign had no basis.

In response to a Senate Estimates questions about the ability of electric vehicles to tow caravans posed by Australian Greens transport spokesperson Janet Rice, the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources pointed to the Tesla Model X as being a suitable model that had the ability to tow a standard caravan.

​

“The Tesla Model X SUV is capable of towing, with a maximum towing limit of 2,270 kg. This is enough to tow a large caravan or trailer,” the government’s response said.

As reported in The Driven, Hyundai’s all-electric Kona has also proven itself capable of towing a caravan, and that there are no technical limitations that would prevent an electric vehicle from towing

In response to an question about all-electric utes, the federal government said that it was aware of multiple models of all-electric utes.

“The Department is aware that vehicle companies Tesla and Rivian have announced they will produce electric utility vehicles. The Tesla Cybertruck was previewed in November 2019.

The release of these vehicles into the Australian market is a decision for the vehicle companies.”

Birmingham had declined to provide answers to the questions during the Senate Estimates session, conceding that he did not hold himself out “to be an expert in the technical specifications of electric vehicles.”

The questions were instead taken ‘on-notice’ with answers provided by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources and published earlier in May.

The department also confirmed that it is continuing to work on the development of the National Electric Vehicle Strategy, having undertaken a range of consultation with vehicle manufacturers, EV charging companies and a range of government agencies.

The National Electric Vehicle Strategy was announced more than a year ago by federal energy minister Angus Taylor, but nothing more than an initial single page overview that accompanied the announcement has been released by the government.

Electric vehicles featured in the Technology Investment Roadmap recently released by the Morrison government, having been identified as a technology that could drive cost-effective reductions in emissions, but gave no indication of what policy support may be on offer from the government, other than saying that the National Electric Vehicle Strategy remained
“forthcoming”.

Without a strategy for electric vehicles, and effective standards for fuel efficiency and performance, Australia risks becoming a dumping ground for inefficient petrol vehicles.

According to a report published by BloombergNEF, Australia remains a global laggard in electric vehicle uptake, due to a lack of policy incentives and a resulting hesitancy from electric vehicle manufacturers to push new models into the Australian market.

https://thedriven.io/