Can the World Make an Electric Car Battery Without China?
Cobalt Mining
Cobalt Mining
Cobalt Mining
Cobalt Mining
It is one of the defining competitions of our age: The countries that can make batteries for electric cars will reap decades of economic and geopolitical advantages. The only winner so far is China. Despite billions in Western investment, China is so far ahead — mining rare minerals, training engineers and building huge factories — that the rest of the world may take decades to catch up. Even by 2030, China will make more than twice as many batteries as every other country combined, according to estimates from Benchmark Minerals, a consulting group. Here’s how China controls each step of lithium-ion battery production, from getting the raw materials out of the ground to making the cars, and why these advantages are likely to last.
Mining
China controls 41% of the world’s cobalt
China controls 41% of the world’s cobalt
Electric cars use about six times more rare minerals than conventional cars because of the battery, and China gets to decide who gets the minerals first and at what price. Although China has few underground deposits of the essential ingredients, it has pursued a long-term strategy to buy its way into a cheap and steady supply. Chinese companies, relying on state assistance, acquired stakes in mining companies on five continents. China owns most of the cobalt mines in Congo, which has the majority of the world’s supply of this scarce material needed for the most common type of battery. American companies failed to keep up and even sold mines to their Chinese counterparts. As a result, China controls 41 percent of the world’s cobalt mining, and the most mining for lithium. which carries a battery’s electric charge.
China controls 6% of the world’s nickel
China controls 6% of the world’s nickel
Global supplies of nickel. manganese and graphite are much larger and batteries use only a fraction. But China’s steady supply of these minerals still gives it an advantage. China’s investments in Indonesia will help it become the largest controller of nickel by 2027, according to forecasts by CRU Group, a consulting firm. Graphite is mostly mined in China. U.S. producers synthesize graphite at much greater cost. Western countries also own mines abroad, and are trying to catch up with China. But they have been more reluctant to put money into countries with unstable governments or poor labor practices. And they have been slow to ramp up their own production. A new mine can take more than 20 years to reach full production. Although the United States is investing to tap its significant lithium reserves, the effort has run into a host of local and environmental concerns.
Refining
China refines 95% of manganese
China refines 95% of manganese
95% of manganese is refined in China
Regardless of who mines the minerals, nearly everything is shipped to China to be refined into battery-grade materials. Once ore is taken from the ground, it is usually pulverized and then treated with heat and chemicals to isolate the mineral compounds. The process is wasteful: Cobalt generates about 860 pounds of waste rock for each pound of refined cobalt powder. Refining needs huge amounts of energy. Battery minerals require three to four times as much energy to make as steel or copper. The preferred form of lithium. for example, needs to be heated, steamed and dried. Supported by the government with cheap land and energy, Chinese companies have been able to refine minerals at larger volume and lower cost than everyone else. This has caused refineries elsewhere to close. Refining also often causes pollution, and Chinese refineries benefit from less stringent environmental regulations. Grinding graphite causes air pollution. Processing nickel generates toxic waste, which must be disposed of in special structures in the ocean or underground. Experts say that using more sustainable methods to process battery minerals drives up costs. Today the United States has little processing capability. A refinery typically takes two to five years to build. Training workers and adjusting equipment can take additional time. Australia’s first lithium refinery, which has some Chinese ownership, was approved in 2016 but failed to produce battery-grade lithium until last year.
Components
China makes 77% of cathodes
82% of electrolytes
China became the largest battery producer partly by figuring out how to make battery components efficiently and at lower cost. The most important component is the cathode, which is the battery’s positive terminal. Of all battery materials, cathodes are the most difficult and energy intensive to make. Until the last several months, the most common cathode used a combination of nickel, cobalt and manganese, also known as NMC cathodes. This formula allows a battery to store a lot of electricity in a small space, providing an electric car with longer range. China has invested in a cheaper alternative that has now taken half the cathode market. Known as LFP, for lithium iron phosphate, these cathodes use widely available iron and phosphate instead of nickel, manganese and cobalt. For western countries, LFP is an opportunity to bypass bottlenecks in the mineral supply. But China produces almost all the world’s LFP.
China makes 73% of NMC cathodes
China makes 73% of NMC cathodes
Source: CRU Group Note: Data for “NMC cathodes” category includes NMC, NCA, NMCA; “LFP cathodes” includes LFP, LMFP. Data for 2022.
Today the United States makes only about 1 percent of the world’s cathodes, all of which are NMC. American companies are interested in LFP, but they must team up with Chinese companies that have the experience producing it. Chinese companies make most of the battery’s other components. They dominate the production of anodes, the negative end of a battery. China also sells the most separators, a layer that goes between the cathode and anode to prevent short-circuiting. Electrolytes, made of mostly lithium salts and solvent, are needed for conductivity, and the top four electrolyte producers in the world are Chinese.
Electric vehicle battery materials
Most electric vehicle batteries are lithium based and rely on a mix of cobalt, manganese, nickel, and graphite and other primary components. Some of these materials are harder to find than others, though none should be classified as rare earth metals.
There are important issues surrounding battery production that must be acknowledged and addressed. For example, over 60% of the global supply for cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has a poor human rights track record; international organizations have denounced for years the exploitative labor practices involved in cobalt production.
What can be done about EV battery sourcing issues?
First, companies must be held accountable for enacting and enforcing policies to only use ethically-sourced materials. Some companies are off to a good start. Tesla, for example, has committed to sourcing materials only from North America for its battery production facility and battery supplier LG Chem claims they have stopped using conflict-sourced cobalt.
Second, recycling can help reduce the need to search for battery materials. Cobalt is fully recyclable and roughly 15 percent of U.S. cobalt consumption is from recycled scrap today.
Third, battery technology is continuing to improve. Lithium-titanate and lithium-iron-phosphate, for example, are gaining importance in the EV market and don’t need cobalt. Other battery chemistries that rely on magnesium, sodium, or lithium-sulfur are also gaining traction as they have the potential to beat lithium-ion batteries on energy density and cost.
Electric vehicle battery cost
The price of lithium-ion batteries has fallen steeply as their production scale has increased and manufacturers have developed more cost-effective methods.
When the first mass-market EVs were introduced in 2010, their battery packs cost an estimated 450,000 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Today, Tesla’s Model 3 battery pack costs 190 per kWh, and General Motors’ 2017 Chevrolet Bolt battery pack is estimated to cost about 205 per kWh. That’s a drop of more than 70% in the price per kWh in 6 years!
EVs are forecast to cost the same or less than a comparable gasoline-powered vehicle when the price of battery packs falls to between 125 and 150 per kWh. Analysts have forecast that this price parity can be achieved as soon as 2020, while other studies have forecast the price of a lithium-ion battery pack to drop to as little as 73 / kWh by 2030.
Electric vehicle battery lifespan
Like the engines in conventional vehicles, the advanced batteries in EVs are designed for a long life but will wear out eventually. Currently, most manufacturers are offering 8-year/100,000-mile warranties for their batteries. Nissan is providing additional battery capacity loss coverage for 5 years or 60,000 miles. Manufacturers have also extended their coverage in states that have adopted the California emissions warranty coverage periods, which require at least 10-year coverage for batteries on partial zero-emissions vehicles (which include EVs).
EVs must undergo the same rigorous safety testing and meet the same safety standards required for conventional vehicles sold in the United States as well as EV-specific standards for limiting chemical spillage from batteries, securing batteries during a crash, and isolating the chassis from the high-voltage system to prevent electric shock. In addition, EVs tend to have a lower center of gravity than conventional vehicles, making them less likely to roll over and often improving ride quality.
Supply challenges
This supply chain is quite complex, and challenges pop up throughout each step. Let’s start at the beginning with upstream extraction and refining activities.
Low domestic supply of EV battery minerals and recycled materials for battery manufacturing is a common concern. Transition mineral reserves are highly concentrated outside of the United States; 50% of global lithium and cobalt reserves are in Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) respectively. Geographic concentration of mineral reserves is a matter of nature, not need, but concentration issues extend beyond mineral reserves to other phases of the battery supply chain. Midstream supply chain activities, like mineral refining and battery cell manufacturing, are also concentrated in a small number of countries, largely outside the U.S. So, even if the U.S. mined the mineral resources it does have, they would currently need to be shipped to other countries for processing. Plus, between long discovery and exploration periods, low-quality data from industry, and lack of federal agency resources, over a decade can pass before minerals are extracted from a reserve in the United States. As a result of all this geographic concentration, mineral and battery supplies could become a major source of geopolitical risk or even conflict.
Shifting extraction to the U.S. could potentially reduce these geopolitical risks and be an improvement in safety standards and health protections for workers compared to many countries. However, the combination of insufficient National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, processes and outdated mining laws in the U.S. prioritize extraction over other land-uses, monitor water use and contamination poorly and without independent parties, and do not require stringent enough mining waste and tailings management or provide sufficient information about potential impacts to communities. As a result, the metals mining industry is the largest single source of toxic waste in the United States. Native communities likely disproportionately bear the brunt of these regulation gaps as 97% of nickel, 89% of copper, 79% of lithium, and 68% of cobalt reserves in the U.S. lie within 35 miles of Native American reservations. Securing metals must not come at a sacrifice to the environment and free prior and informed consent for Indigenous communities.
Congressional and executive supply chain engagement
The federal government is working to understand these domestic supply challenges through congressional hearings, and alleviate them though President Biden’s Presidential Determination invoking the Defense Production Act to secure domestic critical minerals supply chains as well as 7 billion total in grant funding to support domestic battery supply chains from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Further, the Department of Interior launched a joint agency collaboration to improve mining and land use regulations, and the Clean Energy Minerals Reform Act has been introduced in Congress in both the House and the Senate to reform the Mining Law of 1872 which the U.S. is still operating under 150 years later. It is imperative that these Federal actions and any subsidized activities implement strong cultural, environmental, and due diligence standards and encourage adoption of less impactful and wasteful extraction methods like Direct Lithium Extraction and mineral recovery from waste treatment.
Demand for transition minerals is rapidly growing, and supply chains are struggling to keep up. Pressure to meet growing demand combined with geopolitical, resource location, and environmental protection issues make meeting supply needs sustainably particularly challenging. Alleviating supply concerns must FOCUS on reducing reliance on new extraction as a tool for addressing these challenges. Material substitution and technological improvements are key factors in reducing demand for minerals; improved battery chemistries can provide the same amount of energy storage with much less mineral inputs or with different minerals that are more abundant and less impactful. Advanced manufacturing processes can reduce inputs needed by improving material efficiencies during battery production.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle
Additionally, reusing and recycling old batteries can reduce the need for newly mined materials—also known as a circular economy. However, the lack of labeling requirements, scale of collection and processing infrastructure, recycled material content minimums, and nuanced waste regulation all contribute to a series of barriers to a circular economy for electric vehicle batteries. Unfortunately, today most lithium-ion battery recycling currently recovers minerals at much lower rates than technologically feasible, and often less than 1% of lithium is recovered. But there are some success stories. Redwood Materials partners with auto manufacturers like Tesla, Ford, and Volvo to ensure material recovery rates above 90% at their electric vehicle battery recycling facility in Nevada. RePurpose Energy has licensed technology and piloted commercial scale energy storage projects that repurpose old electric vehicle batteries for microgrids. Finally, efforts to reduce our reliance on passenger vehicles by investing in better public transport and alternate forms of mobility can also help reduce pressure on battery demand to some degree over the longer term.
How do electric car batteries work?
The energy storage system in electric cars comes in the form of a battery. Battery type can vary depending on if the vehicle is all-electric (AEV) or plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV). Current battery technology is designed for extended life (typically about 8 years or 100,000 miles). Some batteries and can last for 12 to 15 years in moderate climates, or eight to 12 years in extreme climates. There are four main kinds of batteries used in electric cars: lithium-ion, nickel-metal hydride, lead-acid, and ultracapacitors.
Types of electric car batteries
Lithium-ion batteries
The most common type of battery used in electric cars is the lithium-ion battery. This kind of battery may sound familiar – these batteries are also used in most portable electronics, including cell phones and computers. Lithium-ion batteries have a high power-to-weight ratio, high energy efficiency and good high-temperature performance. In practice, this means that the batteries hold a lot of energy for their weight, which is vital for electric cars – less weight means the car can travel further on a single charge. Lithium-ion batteries also have a low “self-discharge” rate, which means that they are better than other batteries at maintaining the ability to hold a full charge over time.
Additionally, most lithium-ion battery parts are recyclable making these batteries a good choice for the environmentally conscious. This battery is used in both AEVs and PHEVs, though the exact chemistry of these batteries varies from those found in consumer electronics.
Nickel-metal hydride batteries
Nickel-metal hydride batteries are more widely used in hybrid-electric vehicles, but are also used successfully in some all-electric vehicles. Hybrid-electric vehicles do not derive power from an external plug-in source and instead rely on fuel to recharge the battery which excludes them from the definition of an electric car.
Nickel-metal hydride batteries have a longer life-cycle than lithium-ion or lead-acid batteries. They are also safe and tolerant to abuse. The biggest issues with nickel-metal hydride batteries is their high cost, high self-discharge rate, and the fact that they generate significant heat at high temperatures. These issues make these batteries less effective for rechargeable electric vehicles, which is why they are primarily used in hybrid electric vehicles.
Lead-acid batteries
Lead-acid batteries are only currently being used in electric vehicles to supplement other battery loads. These batteries are high-powered, inexpensive, safe, and reliable, but their short calendar life and poor cold-temperature performance make them difficult to use in electric vehicles. There are high-power lead-acid batteries in development, but the batteries now are only used in commercial vehicles as secondary storage.
Ultracapacitors
Ultracapacitors are not batteries in the traditional sense. Instead, they store polarized liquid between an electrode and an electrolyte. As the liquid’s surface area increases, the capacity for energy storage also increases. Ultracapacitors, like lead-acid batteries, are primarily useful as secondary storage devices in electric vehicles because ultracapacitors help electrochemical batteries level their load. In addition, ultracapacitors can provide electric vehicles with extra power during acceleration and regenerative braking.
How do electric car batteries work?
All-electric vehicles have an electric traction motor in place of the internal combustion engine used in gasoline-powered cars. AEVs use a traction battery pack (usually a lithium-ion battery) to store the electricity used by the motor to drive the vehicle’s wheels. The traction battery pack is the part of the car that must be plugged in and recharged, and its efficiency helps determine the overall range of the vehicle.
In plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, the electric traction motor is powered by a traction battery pack much like an AEV. The primary difference is that the battery also has a combustion engine. PHEVs run on electric power until the battery is depleted and then switch over to fuel which powers an internal combustion engine. The battery, usually lithium-ion, can be recharged by being plugged in, through regenerative braking, or by using the internal combustion engine. The combination of battery and fuel gives PHEVs a longer range than their all-electric counterparts.
Methods of Electric Vehicle Battery Recharging
For both AEVs and PHEVs, the battery is typically charged through a standard connector and receptacle that works with any Level 1 (120 V AC) or Level 2 (240 V for residential/208 V for commercial) plug. Some Rapid charging stations use different receptors (known as SAE receptors or CHAdeMO) which are not standardized. The type of vehicle you purchase will determine the charging station you can use.
Electric vehicle batteries, solar power, and you
Charging your vehicle with electricity presents you with the opportunity to cut your greenhouse gas emissions by fueling your vehicle with a renewable resource like solar power. On average 80 percent of electric car charging is done at home, and solar panels can both offset the costs of charging a vehicle regularly and reduce the use of nonrenewable fuels in the recharging process. Additionally, many public chargers use solar panels as a way to reduce the use of nonrenewable energy throughout the process. If you’re interested in a solar panel installation plus installing a EV charging station at home, simply join the EnergySage Marketplace today and mention your interest in EV charging when filling out your profile questions.
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The Future of EV Batteries
Imagine electric car batteries that could take you 500 miles on a charge. How about 1,100 miles on a charge! Incredible new technology is coming soon, from batteries as structural components to batteries extracted from seawater. All this and more is be researched as we speak.
Welcome to the Future of EV Batteries
The race for better electric car batteries is being called the next gold rush. Here’s what’s coming.
There are many new technologies coming that may make it easier to own and run a zero-emission vehicle. The woes of “range anxiety” and “long charging times” will soon be a thing of the past with battery packs offering over 500 miles of range between charges that only take a few seconds, and power available to you over the air.
We are at the threshold of a battery revolution. Electric car makers know that in order to get an EV in every garage, Americans demand more range and quicker charging. They are well aware of the limitations of the current lithium-ion batteries that power today’s EVs. While computer chips and operating systems continue to advance in saving power, battery packs have been the week link… until now.
Let’s take a look at research that may lead to an exciting new world of battery technology for tomorrow’s electric cars.
EV Batteries as Structural Components
Research at Chalmers University of Technology has been focusing on using new battery tech as a structural component of future electric cars. This could lead to lighter vehicles in which body parts are the batteries. Using carbon fiber as the negative electrode while the positive is a lithium iron phosphate, these batteries would be extremely stiff and rigid for structural components.
Carbon Nanotube Electrodes
NAWA Technologies has designed and patented an Ultra Fast Carbon Electrode that could change batteries as we know them. This utilizes a vertically-aligned carbon nanotube that can boost battery power ten times over current battery packs. It can also increase energy storage by a factor of three and increase the lifecycle of a battery five times over. NAWA says that charging time will be just five minutes to get to an 80 percent charge. This technology could be in production as soon as 2023.
Cobalt-Free Batteries
The University of Texas is working on a lithium-ion battery that doesn’t use cobalt as a cathode. Instead, it uses up to 89 percent nickel as well as aluminum and manganese. The motivation is that cobalt is rare, expensive, and harmful to source. The team at U of T say their batteries produce a more elegant distribution of ions as well.
A Chinese company called SVOLT is manufacturing cobalt-free batteries for the EV market. They claim to have a higher energy density, resulting in a vehicle range of up to an estimated 500 miles on a single charge.
Silicon Anode Batteries
Looking for a cure to unstable silicon in lithium-ion batteries, researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have developed a method to produce a hybrid anode that uses mesoporous silicon microparticles and carbon nanotubes. They hope to replace graphite as the anode and replace it with silicon, which has ten times the capacity. The goal is that this will improve battery performance. Best of all, the sourcing of this silicone is earth friendly as it is made from barley husk ash.
A Battery Extracted from Seawater
IBM Research has discovered a new battery chemistry that is free of heavy metals and can out-perform lithium-ion batteries. The materials are extracted from seawater. IBM says these batteries will be cheaper to make, can charge faster, and pack in higher energy density and power. The company is currently working with Mercedes-Benz to develop the technology.
Sand Batteries Offer Life
Researchers at the University of California Riverside are working on battery technology that uses sand in order to create pure silicon to achieve three times better performance than current graphite-based lithium-ion batteries. This new pure silicon also advances the lifespan of batteries.
A battery startup company called Silnano is bringing this technology to the market through funding by Daimler and BMW promising a 40 percent boost in battery performance in the near future.
Charing Electric Cars by Wi-Fi?
Imagine powering your car over Wi-Fi while you drive. You’d never have to recharge your battery by plugging in. While this technology is still a way off, researchers have developed a radio wave harvesting antenna that is only several atoms thick, that may be used to recharge future EVs over electromagnetic waves.
Better and Cheaper EV Batteries: The New Gold Rush
According to numerous statistics, electric vehicle sales will jump in America in the next five years, climbing from 3 percent of car sales today to about 10 percent in 2025 and almost 30 percent by 2030. Demand for better and cheaper EV batteries is creating a new gold rush as university research teams, start-up companies and automakers delve into exciting new technologies and hurry to meet demand.
The goal is to develop improved EV batteries that charge faster and last longer while switching to less expensive and more environmentally friendly materials. With our fingers on the pulse of all things in the zero-emission vehicle universe, check in with GreenCars often for information on the latest technologies that are driving the EV transportation revolution.