China agreed to extend tax breaks and subsidies on electric-vehicle purchases for two years to provide relief for the struggling industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Volkswagen expects vehicle sales in China, the world’s largest car market, to quadruple in March, it said, pointing to a recovery following the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, Volkswagen expects a decline of 3-15% in the Chinese market but confirmed plans to invest more than 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) this year there, with about 40% of that sum earmarked for electric driving. Volkswagen plans to sell 1.5 million electric cars in China per year from 2025.
BYD officially announced the launch of the Blade Battery, a development set to mitigate concerns about battery safety in electric vehicles. BYD highlighted a video of the Blade Battery successfully passing a nail penetration test, which is seen as the most rigorous way to test the thermal runaway of batteries due to its sheer difficulty. The Han EV, BYD's flagship sedan model slated for launch this June, will come equipped with the Blade Battery. The new model will lead the brand's Dynasty Family, boasting a cruising range of 605 kilometers and an acceleration of 0 to 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds.
BYD Co., the Chinese electric-vehicle maker backed by Warren Buffett, will start offering a full suite of EV components to rivals and aspiring auto manufacturers to diversify its revenue sources amid sputtering car demand.
CATL and State Grid Integrated Energy Service Group Co.,Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Grid, founded a joint venture, which focuses on the investment in energy storage programs and their construction and operation.
BMW is securing its own supply of lithium and cobalt - key ingredients in batteries for electric cars. BMW chairman Oliver Zipse said at the Bavarian company's annual accounts press conference in Munich on Wednesday: "We have long-term supply contracts with CATL and Samsung SDI. "Starting this year, we will be sourcing the key raw materials - cobalt and lithium - ourselves and making them available to our suppliers." He said BMW has its own competence centre for battery cells in Munich, "where we have pooled all our knowledge in battery cell chemistry, mechanics and physics". He said BMW aims to double the range of its batteries by 2030. This would mean a real-world range of around 600km per full charge.
LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's leading chemical company, said Wednesday it has shuttered its electric vehicle battery plant in the United States due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Samsung SDI Co., a South Korean manufacturer of electric vehicle and smartphone batteries, also said it has closed its battery pack plant in Michigan. The two plants in the state will remain closed until April 13 after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a stay-at-home order across the state to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moody's Investors Service has downgraded to Caa1 from B2 Tianqi Lithium Corporation's corporate family rating (CFR). Moody's has also downgraded the senior unsecured rating on the bonds issued by Tianqi Finco Co., Ltd and guaranteed by Tianqi Lithium to Caa2 from B2. The ratings outlook remains negative. "The ratings downgrade reflects Tianqi Lithium's very strained capital structure as a result of its high debt burden, elevated leverage and weak liquidity," says Gerwin Ho, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer.
Australian companies involved in Argentina's lithium brine industry have suspended on-site work at projects until the end of March to comply with government's coronavirus containment measures. Brisbane-based Orocobre has moved its Olaroz lithium plant into care and maintenance mode and has suspended activities on developing the second stage of the plant. Perth-based Galaxy Resources has suspended all but essential services work at its Sal de Vida project until April.
"Default is the only appropriate remedy," said the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) regarding its recent default judgment over the bitter patent infringements fight between LG Chem and SK Innovation (SKI). The judgment was based on its observation of SKI's "spoliation of evidence." In the document, the USITC found that SKI "deliberately sought to gain LG Chem proprietary information through the interviews and subsequent employment of LG Chem personnel, and then, after receiving information, distributed it amongst its teams with the instruction to use the information for their own work."
Tianqi Lithium says coronavirus has exacerbated tight liquidity. Low lithium prices, high debt-to-asset ratio also behind delay. Kwinana contractor files claim with court over unpaid invoice.
Automakers are taking steps to help boost production of key medical equipment necessary to help combat the spread of the coronavirus. General Motors and Tesla are devoting resources to help solve the nation's shortage of ventilators, which are critically needed to treat COVID-19. Ford Motor is also weighing plans to do so.
Panasonic Corp said on Saturday it will temporarily suspend production at its battery joint venture with U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc in Nevada because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Volkswagen AG CEO Herbert Diess on Saturday warned that the coronavirus crisis may force the company to keep its factories shut for longer than initially planned. "The spreading of the virus will not have come to a standstill in several weeks from now. So that we need to be ready, to live with this threat for a long time - until effective medicines or a vaccination are available,” Diess said.
Panasonic Corp said on Saturday it will temporarily suspend production at its battery joint venture with U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc in Nevada because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Tesla will close both its Fremont, California factory, where it produces electric vehicles, and its Buffalo, New York factory, where it produces solar and energy storage products, the company said Thursday.
From Washington to London, Beijing to Rome, governments are drafting automakers and aerospace manufacturers to ramp up production of ventilators and other medical equipment to bolster what most experts say is an inadequate arsenal of coronavirus treatment tools.
Samsung SDI President Jun Young-hyun said Wednesday he would focus on pioneering overseas energy storage systems market and investing in the company’s second battery plant in Hungary. At the general shareholders meeting held in Seoul, Jun Young-hyun handpicked ESS and electric vehicle batteries as the company’s main agenda.
Ford Motor Co on Thursday moved to hoard cash on its balance sheet, drawing down $15.4 billion from two credit lines and suspending its dividend, in a move to bolster reserves to ride out damage to its business from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Governments in China and in the European Union implemented measures to accelerate the electrification of transport regardless of oil prices”. Concerns over pollution in large cities and its impact on citizens’ health have been more prominent, and oil price swings are unlikely to change that. “Long-term, the vision of these governments is to diminish exposure to oil markets as much as they can,”
Cobalt sulfate prices fell below 50,000 yuan ($7,131) per tonne on Wednesday March 18, with the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outside China exacerbating concerns over slower growth in global electric vehicle (EV) production. With a general bearish outlook on EV production and sales growth in China this year, sentiment was further dampened by the likelihood that the 2019-nCoV situation outside China is likely to inhibit projected growth in EV production in Europe and the United States.
Volkswagen will raise the amount of nickel used in it electric car battery cells to 80% in the next year from 65% at present, Frank Blome, head of battery cells at the carmaker said on Tuesday.
Top lithium miners in Chile, the world´s No.2 producer of the ultralight battery metal, ramped up sanitary precautions at their Atacama salt flat mining operations to protect workers from the coronavirus outbreak, but said impact on output was minimal thus far.
Volkswagen Group will suspend production this week at plants in Italy, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain and is preparing to shut down the rest of its factories across Europe due to the spread of coronavirus.
Volkswagen said its diesel cheating scandal has cost it 31.3 billion euros (28.5 billion pounds) in fines and settlements, and the German carmaker expects cash outflows to continue until 2021, adding that these have already been provisioned for.
Japanese car maker Nissan will offer electrified versions of all its cars in Japan from mid-2020, it has been revealed. Joining its popular and longstanding electric Nissan Leaf will be a range of all-electric models including an electric SUV – likely the crossover dubbed “Ariya” based on the IMx concept – and an electric version of its Dayz city car.
Solid-state batteries promise to be more compact and powerful than the conventional lithium-ion batteries found in consumer electronics today. In Japan, thousands of solid-state batteries are being churned out every month and several companies are aiming to enter into mass production as soon as this year.
The boss of Transport for London today put drivers on notice that private cars “do not have a long-term future” in the centre of the capital.
In the company’s fourth-quarter results statement yesterday, BMW revealed that up to 50% of the brand’s “traditional” powertrain variants will be discontinued from 2021. The company did not announce which ones, but its diesel engines, as well as V8 and V12 gas engines, are most likely to get chopped.
The objective is to deliver the 30,000 pre-booked ID.3 vehicles in the 1st Edition to customers throughout Europe at almost the same time. The cost of ownership analysis shows that, in terms of acquisition and operation expenses,: an ID.3 is less expensive, depending on the model variant, than a comparable internal combustion engine model.
BYD Co., the Chinese electric-carmaker backed by Warren Buffett, said it is now the world’s biggest face-mask maker after starting production less than a month ago to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The company can make 5 million masks a day and is further expanding capacity, it said Friday in a statement. Founder Wang Chuanfu led a team of 3,000 engineers to build production lines from scratch using 90% in-house components. BYD didn’t specify what type of masks it makes.
United States electric car manufacturer Tesla has a 10-year start on rivals when it comes to building electric cars and software, Thomas Ulbrich, the Volkswagen brand's board member for electromobility said on Thursday.
Volkswagen AG’s unprecedented push into electric vehicles will go ahead as planned even as an eroded oil price may make driving combustion-engine cars cheaper again.VW will start developing its last mass-market technology for combustion-engine cars in 2026 as it expects sales of new gas-powered vehicles to begin fading out around 2040, strategy chief Michael Jost told reporters in Berlin on Thursday.
The market share of LFP (one of the most affordable, but also not an especially energy-dense chemistry) went down from 13% in 2018 to 6% in 2019. The report says that out of 95.6 GWh of batteries deployed in new passenger xEV in 2019, 90% were NCM or NCA (compared to 83% in 2018). "In the passenger EV market, LFP is ideal for low-cost EVs used by urban commuters that prioritize price over driving range, and ongoing research, development and innovation focused on LFP, such as Guoxuan’s industry-leading 190 Wh/kg cell, means it will continue to stay relevant as incumbent chemistries evolve further."
Australian lithium producer Galaxy Resources is prioritising "resource life preservation" at its Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia, in response to continued weak market conditions in the global lithium market.
Tesla Inc plans to increase its production capacity for certain car parts at its $2 billion factory in China, according to a government document seen by Reuters, as it pushes to localize its supply chain in the world's biggest auto market.
The automaker provides a lifetime warranty for batteries to buyers of the Ioniq Electric and a 10 years and 200,000 km warranty for batteries to those who buy the 2020 Kona Electric. It also provides a free warranty for parts of EVs such as drive motors, reducers and slow chargers and inspects EVs free of charge once a year for up to 8 years.
The global outbreak of coronavirus will accelerate efforts by western carmakers to localise supplies of lithium for electric car batteries, according to US producer Livent.
Japan’s Sanyo Chemical Industries Ltd. has raised about 8 billion yen ($74.5 million) from a group of seven Japanese investors to fund the mass production of the world’s first all polymer battery, a next-generation lithium ion battery. The Tokyo-listed chemical maker said Tuesday that APB Corp., its fully owned startup established in 2018, will buy a plant in the central Japanese prefecture of Fukui to start producing large-scale bipolar lithium ion battery modules in 2021, according to a Kyodo News report.
The century-old Amsterdam canal boat Gerarda Johanna looks like a classic with wood paneling, but beneath its floorboards lies a high-tech underbelly: rows of lithium ion batteries, 66 in all, with an electric drive train powering its propeller. The boat is part of a push by Amsterdam’s new Green Party mayor to ban diesel engines from the center’s ancient canals by 2025, helping the city’s efforts to combat climate change.
The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force on Thursday welcomed into service its first submarine using lithium-ion batteries with the commissioning of the 11th Soryu-class boat. Speaking during a 2017 presentation in Singapore, former head of the JMSDF's submarine force Vice-Admiral (Ret.) Masao Kobayashi said the batteries being used in the Ouryu and Toryu are Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide, or NCA batteries. He said the technology requires less maintenance and is capable of longer endurance at high submerged speeds compared to lead-acid batteries. Other advantages cited by Kobayashi include shorter charging time and longer lifespans.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in South Korea and Japan has yet to take a substantial toll on production of electric vehicle battery and battery materials there, showed the latest SMM survey. In South Korea, now the most virus-hit country outside of China, EV battery producers are maintaining normal production as LG Chem, Samsung SDI, SKI and other plants are not located in the virus epicentre of Daegu city and the surrounding Gyeongsangbuk-do province. Production of cathode materials, however, face greater risks of shutdown as major producers—L&F, ECOPRO and POSCO ESM, are located in hard-hit regions. All the three plants of L&F, major cathode materials supplier to LG Chem, are situated in Daegu city and the surrounding Gyeongsangbuk-do province. Japan now has fewer reported cases of the virus than South Korea. It has about 200,000 mt of cathode materials capacity, with nearly 75% controlled by Sumitomo, Nichia Chemical, and BASF TODA. Major plants are located in regions nearly untouched by the virus. South Korean and Japanese EV battery makers and battery materials producers are major buyers of Chinese ternary materials, ternary precursors and lithium salts. Data showed that over 97% of China’s ternary precursor exports and over 96% of lithium hydroxide exports were shipped to South Korea and Japan in 2019. China exports about 25% of its monthly production of ternary precursors, while the ratio is above 60% for lithium hydroxide. China is the world’s largest lithium hydroxide producer in terms of smelting capacity.
Argosy Minerals expects to export its first batch of lithium carbonate from the Rincon project in Argentina to Mitsubishi Corporation this month. The Australian junior lithium owner is scheduled to deliver a preliminary trial cargo comprising five tonnes of more than 99.5 per cent lithium carbonate as part of its sales agreement with Mitsubishi.
Volvo officially inaugurated a new battery pack assembly line at its manufacturing plant in Ghent, Belgium (one of two Volvo's European plants), where later this year the company will start production of the all-electric Volvo XC40 Recharge P8. The company will produce battery packs also in Luqiao, China (for Volvo, Polestar and LYNK & CO brands), as well as in the recently announced U.S. plant, outside Charleston, South Carolina. Lithium-ion cells for those plants will be supplied by two strategic manufacturers: CATL and LG Chem.
Australia’s Altura Mining said on Friday it has secured a new financing package totalling A$305 million ($202 million) which it expects to bolster its operations in a weak lithium market.
The global auto industry has more than $2 trillion in annual revenue and employs millions of people in dozens of countries. It’s also shrinking—at least in terms of what it delivers to customers. There is a warm spot in this cold market, however: electric vehicles. Automakers sold 2.1 million plug-in hybrid and purely electric vehicles last year, up 9% from 1.9 million in 2018. My BloombergNEF colleagues expect EV sales to grow another 14% this year, to 2.4 million vehicles.
Big batteries have long been touted as the future of the electrical grid. But when entrepreneur David Cieminis sought financing for a storage project in California, a state desperate to wean itself off of fossil fuels, he couldn’t reel in a bank. In early February, on a whim, he approached a few lenders that had completed storage financings. He was pleasantly surprised to find interest in two other Able Grid projects—100MW facilities in Southern California and Texas. Recognizing the sizable opportunity in batteries, some project finance banks have recently begun supporting battery developments, and others expect to follow soon. The U.S. Energy Storage Association trade group is aiming to have 35,000MW online by 2025. There are also climate change implications.
Daimler AG Chief Executive Ola Kaellenius said Tuesday the automaker has ‘no issues’ securing electric vehicle battery cells, and is ramping up battery production to meet high demand for plug-in models.
Chilean miner SQM, the world’s No. 2 lithium producer, saw profits tumble in the last quarter of 2019 and warned that early 2020 sales in China, a key market for the battery metals used in electric vehicles, could be hit by the impact of the coronavirus. The lithium giant is the latest miner to report grim 2019 results as overproduction of the metal drives down prices and dents revenues. SQM rival Albemarle Corp, the world’s largest lithium producer, last month reported lower-than-expected profits in late 2019 and forecast a double-digit drop in 2020 earnings on weak prices for the battery metal. U.S. lithium producer Livent Corp also said it expects profits to drop in 2020.
General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra said Wednesday the Detroit automaker will invest $20 billion by 2025 in electric and automated vehicles as it races to catch up with Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc as vehicles go electric. With its new Ultium battery technology, GM is on track to cut the battery cell costs - the single greatest expense in electric vehicles - to less than $100 per kilowatt-hour, Barra said. That would be down from about $140 now. That, in turn, could make battery packs - for electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Bolt EV - up to 45% cheaper, experts say. Instead of 555 internal combustion powertrain combinations, GM will be able to move to just 19 different electric vehicle propulsion systems, slashing costs, GM officials said. Barra reiterated a goal of selling 1 million electric vehicles annually in the United States and China by 2025.
BYD, China's leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, recently received 1.34 billion yuan ($191 million) in government subsidies as it grapples with a reduction in incentives and the prospect of a further downturn in sales.
British utility Centrica has agreed a three-year partnership with Volkswagen to provide home-charging hardware for new electric vehicle owners, it said on Wednesday. The deal will see Elli, the main provider of charging hardware and services for Volkswagen Group, work with Centrica’s British Gas to deliver a package of home-charging installations, after-sales services and electrical upgrades across Britain.
The MINING.COM EV Metals Index shows that the gap between future supply and future demand has become a chasm. MINING.COM’s prediction is that 2019 wasn’t only the first annual fall in the index, but also the last.
Chilean miner SQM said it plans to produce as much as 70,000 tonnes of battery metal lithium in 2020 amid a drive to boost the volume it sells to China to 40% of its total sales, the company’s chief executive said on Tuesday.
New electric models will help BMW and Daimler cut emissions from the cars they sell by an average of 20% this year, the German automakers predicted on Tuesday, as they strive to meet tough new European pollution rules.
Japanese automaker Toyota plans to build a new electric vehicle plant in the Chinese city of Tianjin with its local partner FAW Group, a document from the local authorities showed. The joint venture between Toyota and FAW plans to invest around 8.5 billion yuan ($1.22 billion) in the planned car plant in Tianjin, according to a document issued by authorities of the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city.
The so-called Tesla big battery at Hornsdale doubled the amount of money it saved consumers in its second full year of operation, and its rapid response to massive network faults once again helped to keep the lights on, a new report has found. Neoen on Friday released a report by energy consultancy Aurecon on the Hornsdale Power Reserve – which at 100MW and 129MWh remains the biggest lithium-ion battery in the world – and found that the money it saved consumers in 2019 jumped to $116 million, from $40 million in 2018.
Two more Chinese cities that rely heavily on car manufacturing plan to offer incentives to bolster auto sales, which have been hit by the fallout from the spread of the coronavirus. In the southern city of Guangzhou - where Japanese automakers Toyota, and Nissan all have joint ventures with Chinese partners - the local government plans to reintroduce subsidies to encourage people to buy electric vehicles, it said last week. It did not provide more details. Previous local subsidies were scrapped last year. Xiangtan, a city of 3 million people in the southern province of Hunan, will offer people 3,000 yuan ($429) in cash if they buy a car made locally by Geely, state media Hunan Daily reported on Sunday.
from Twitter...@JoseLazuen: China NEV subsidies to be extended for another 2 years to support domestic EV sales amid the growing economic uncertainty
@LithiumIonBull: Ganfeng weighs into hydroxide/carbonate debate firmly in camp: "hydroxide is driving force for hi nickel batteries" citing Minmetals Securities. Suggests hydroxide will overtake carbonate as early as 2022 (!) and hit 566kt by 2025 - 39% CAGR.
@sdmoores: How much raw material does a battery Megafactory consume? Below are solid reference numbers for a 30GWh lithium ion battery plant using NCM chemistry. Li = 25kt, Ni = 19kt, Co = 6kt, graphite anode = 33kt
@robertbaylis: China imported 200.5kt LCE chem-grade spod. conc. in 2019, up 15% on 2018. 87% went to 5 companies, but less to $ALB y-on-y which alongside lower tech-grade imports (10.5kt) tallies with Tianqi's lower spod. sales. More analysis in @Roskill_Info's Q1 lithium update out end-March
@amiller_bmi: Interesting rumours about China's upcoming policy efforts to correct the Q1 coronavirus slowdown. EV subsidies extended in some regions already and new infrastructure policy to be included in stimulus package for Q2, boosting stationary storage (
@JamesTFrith: Unsurprisingly the biggest impact for the battery sector will come from changes to end demand. We expect 2020 battery demand from EVs will be up to 9GWh lower than we forecast last year.
@robertbaylis: Samsung AIT develops all-solid-state lithium-ion battery with long-range and high cycle life for EV applicability by coating otherwise problematic lithium metal anode with a silver-carbon nanocomposite.
@ICBillyWu: Very promising results for solid-state batteries from Samsung published in @NatureEnergyJnl using a silver-carbon anode for even lithium deposition. Sulfide based electrolyte with >900 Wh/L energy density and cycle life of ~1000 cycles!
@colinmckerrache: 13GWh of lithium-ion batteries for Chinese electric motorcycles alone in 2019. Huge numbers from a segment that most are not even aware exists.
@colinmckerrache: Sales of battery electric vehicles up 240% in the UK in February. Diesel down 27%, petrol down 7%.
@colinmckerrache: The Chinese government will likely make a big push on EV charging infrastructure investment as part of its economic recovery plans.
@technology: GM unveiled plans to roll out an electric vehicle for each of its brands starting this year, vowing they’ll make money and have better range than any currently sold by Tesla.
@JamesTFrith: GM will use NMCA in its Ultium batteries. SVOLT has a supply agreement with a European automaker, and will produce NMCA. NMCA seems more and more likely to be the chemistry of the 2020's. Blurring the line between NCA and NMC.
@au_tom_otive: 10 years ago, the fastest you could get 24 kWh of energy into an electric car was about 10 hours. Today, with the right car and the right charger, it’s about 10 minutes.
@sdmoores: Batteries become the battleground for the automotive industry
@RockTechLithium: “GM said that its new all-Electric Vehicles will be capable of 400 miles , charge more than 100 miles in 10 minutes and accelerate 0 to 60 mph in as low as 3 seconds. The performance specifications are all in-line or better than $TSLA current vehicles”
@BMWGroup: "Already, we have over half a million BMWGroup electrified vehicles on the road. And we intend to double this number by the end of next year."
@colinmckerrache: Toyota's near-term zero emissions vehicle targets are: 30,000 fuel cell vehicle sales a year starting next year; 500,000 battery electric vehicle sales a year by 2025.
@amec_org: Australian mining provides the needed resources for future tech. WA's future battery plan is driving growth: Jobs in WA's future battery industry rose 21% in 2018-19 and over $3B is committed for future battery projects. Read more here: https://t.co/nbJTkG3riJ