Hello from Germany
I'm also happy that I'm no longer so frustrated with the share price. I used the time to buy a few extra shares. Now I'm waiting for autumn and then the buoyancy will come. I think the management's way of working is very good and I can say that about my investment from 3 years of partnership.
Right now, I think Lepidico is extremely exciting with what they have plans and work in progress.
I would like to know more about the project in Portugal and possible cooperation with the big ones. As much action as there is in Europe
The Project in Portugal
https://www.lepidico.com/projects/alvarroes/
Felmica, Grupo Mota and Lepidico
The largest lithium mine in Europe is operated by Grupo Mota, Felmica, in the Guarda region, which is estimated to have reserves for 30 years of production. It has 5 more deposits in its possession.
Founded in 1967, Felmica is a company in the extraction and processing of raw materials for the ceramics industry. It is headquartered in Mangualde, in the north central part of Portugal. FELMICA holds rights to more than 25 mining concessions of quartz and feldspar. It operates within Grupo Mota, along with entities as Adelino Duarte da Mota, SA, Motamineral Minerais Industriais, SA, Mota Soluções Cerâmicas, SA and Mota Pastas Cerâmicas, SA.
http://lithium.today/lithium-supply-by-countries/lithium-supply-portugal/
https://siaia.apambiente.pt/AIADOC/DA212/pda2122018112815376.pdf?fbclid=IwAR34GtEaUbfbIlkPzep_xbb-eVWskezmigclSttvsLcI5QrfLOIMlnGHzgo
Tesla in Germany
Possible Tesla partner BASF receives 175 million euros for battery material from Brandenburg.
https://teslamag.de/news/moeglicher-tesla-partner-basf-175-mio-euro-akku-material-brandenburg-29632
Europe
Europe, which looks to assert a significant global role in the battery business, will continue to play catch-up over the next year. Wood MacKenzie did recognize that large manufacturing capacity will come from Northvolt. The Swedish manufacturer will develop gigafactories in Sweden and Germany and already has some operative manufacturing capacity in Poland. Additionally, Automotive Cell Company (ACC), a new joint venture between French Saft and PSA Group, will comprise a significant part of the European lithium-ion cell manufacturing capacity.
Currently, Europe comprises about 7% of global lithium-ion cell production, though the figure will likely increase to 25% over the next ten years, according to the analysts. The increase is not only a result of the ramp-up by Northvolt and ACC, but comes as a result of Asia-based manufacturers setting up significant production capacities in mainland Europe. CATL, for example, announced it was opening a gigafactory in Erfurt, Germany. LG chem, meanwhile, announced the establishment of a plant in Wroclaw, Poland, and Samsung SDI has opened a production facility in Goed, Hungary.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/08/12/battery-manufacturing-capacity-set-to-increase-fourfold-to-1-3-twh-by-2030/
As European automakers ramp up production of electric cars, a new company aims to supply them with batteries.
French startup Verkor plans to open a battery factory in its home country in 2023, with an initial annual production capacity of 16 gigawatt-hours, before expanding to 50 gigawatt-hours at a later date, according to Automotive News Europe.
Verkor, which has spent the past year in stealth mode, counts electrical equipment company Schneider Electric among its backers. In an interview with Reuters, CEO Benoit Lemaignan said Verkor would seek an additional 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) next year from private equity firms. Verkor is counting on the European Union's green recovery plan to counteract any potential financial damage from the pandemic, he said.
Battery supply is currently dominated by Asian firms, but politics and an anticipated boom in EV production to meet stricter EU emissions standards has more European firms looking for a piece of the action
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1129257_to-supply-ev-production-another-european-battery-company-rises-verkor
The German government will support the financing of Northvolt’s battery cell factory in Sweden with a state guarantee of 443 million euros as part of the federal foreign trade promotion programme.
The support was awarded given that carmakers from the German automotive industry are involved with Northvolt. The battery cell factory is considered an important building block in the creation of a broad and stable value chain for electric vehicles in Germany and Europe.
From Germany, car making giants Volkswagen and BMW are engaged with strategic cooperations with Northvolt for joint research and development at the Swedish plant. The cooperation will also enable the two companies to secure the long-term supply of battery cells.
BMW signed a supply contract with Northvolt in July, supplementing existing contracts with Samsung SDI and CATL. From 2024 onwards, the Swedish company should be supplying the German carmaker with cells worth two billion euros.
The Northvolt production plant in Sweden also serves as a reference and pilot project for the Northvolt Zwei (German for two) production facility Salzgitter in Germany. The German plant is a joint venture between Northvolt and Volkswagen and will begin operation from 2024. The Volkswagen-Northvolt plant was announced back in June 2019, when both companies said that the battery cell production at the plant would be set up from 2020 and start at the turn of the year 2023/24. The target for the first year is a capacity of 16 GWh, after which Volkswagen and Northvolt are aiming to expand this to 24 GWh.
https://www.electrive.com/2020/08/17/german-government-funds-northvolt-plant-in-sweden/
The German government is to invest more than EUR 1.5 billion in battery cell research and production, starting with a EUR 300 million grant to battery manufacturer Varta.
The funding is the first step in an initiative under the European Union’s Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) programme. eNews Bulletin reports that, along with Varta, four other companies with battery cell projects in Germany will also receive grants from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy: BASF, BMW Group, Opel and recycler Umicore.
With a potential market value for European-made batteries of EUR 250 billion by mid-2020s, according to the European Battery Alliance, and with lithium-ion batteries already accounting for approximately 40% of the value of electric vehicles, the German Government’s support for such projects could yield significant gains for the whole country.
https://recyclinginternational.com/batteries/german-state-grant-to-boost-battery-production-and-recycling/31351/
The Rest of the World
Battery manufacturing capacity set to increase fourfold to 1.3 TWh by 2030
Analysts at Wood Mackenzie have looked at plans for the incoming decade and concluded that about 119 manufacturing sites will be up and running by 2030. China currently sits firmly in the driving seat, with Asia Pacific comprising 80% of global manufacturing capacity, but Europe is catching up.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/08/12/battery-manufacturing-capacity-set-to-increase-fourfold-to-1-3-twh-by-2030/
A massive battery plant that is supposed to bring thousands of jobs to Jackson County is running into more problems.
The governor and officials from Korean company SK Battery made the big announcement that they had developed a $1.7 billion partnership to build a battery factory about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta in Jackson County.
“I’m confident Georgia will be center for battery production for electric vehicles in the world,” Gov. Brian Kemp said at the time
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/how-will-cheating-allegations-affect-massive-ev-battery-plant-in-jackson-county
According to insiders, SVOLT, the battery cell manufacturer that emerged from the Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall, has received a large order from the French PSA group. SVOLT will supply PSA with battery cells with a total capacity of more than 7 GWh.
The news site ChinaPEV reported the deal referring to persons familiar with the processes but so far an official confirmation has not yet been forthcoming. Apparently, the batteries concerned will not only be used in vehicles for the Chinese market but worldwide.
SVOLT already announced earlier this year that it had received an order from Europe for seven GWh. At that time, Audi, BMW or Daimler were named as possible customers in addition to PSA. If the information in the current report is correct, however, it is likely to be PSA.
Apart from the agreed cell chemistry – since SVOLT has already announced cobalt-free lithium-ion cells) – what is remains unclear is when the supply of battery cells will begin and in which plants the cells will be produced. SVOLT currently has a plant in Changzhou, the first stage of which will go into operation in autumn 2019 with a capacity of four GWh. Later the plant is to be expanded to 18 GWh.
Overall, the fast-growing company plans to have a global production capacity of 100 GWh. 76 GWh is to be installed in China. While earlier reports had mentioned that cell factories were planned in both North America and Europe, ChinaPEV now writes of a 24 GWh battery factory. In addition to the actual cell factory, SVOLT also plans to build a cathode material plant and a research centre in Europe.
The project is said to amount to two billion euros. The report gives no indication of where in Europe the factories will be built, although more information on this could soon be available: The project is to start this year and the first production stage is to be operational in 2022.
If PSA is indeed the major customer from Europe, several possible countries for operations would appear to come into question. The Group operates plants in France, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and, through the joint venture with Toyota, also in the Czech Republic, although Toyota will take over the factory completely from 2021.
PSA currently procures its battery cells from the South Korean company LG Chem and the Chinese supplier CATL. PSA has already set up its own battery assembly facility at the Slovakian plant in Trnava, where the Peugeot e-208, among other vehicles, is built. In Vigo, Spain, it is also planned to assemble battery packs from bought-in cells.
PSA is also part of an EU-funded project with its German subsidiary Opel, in which cell factories are to be built in France and Kaiserslautern together with battery manufacturer Saft, which is part of the Total Group.
https://www.electrive.com/2020/08/10/psa-has-a-major-order-for-svolt/
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