Battery Metals

Tesla Inc. is building fast-charging stations for its electric vehicles in Atlantic Canada, opening up the East Coast to road trippers with the California automaker’s high-end plug-in cars.

The company has plans to set up dozens of new “supercharger” stations across Canada, including seven in the Maritimes — five in New Brunswick and two in Nova Scotia — by the end of 2018.

“Tesla has been building electric-vehicle charging infrastructure across Canada with the objective of enabling people with a Tesla to drive across the country,” said Dan Woynillowicz with Clean Energy Canada, a British Columbia-based think tank.

“It’s one thing to use an electric car for your daily driving habits,” he said. “But Canadians also like to go on summer road trips and that’s where you need to be able to charge up between cities and across the country.”

The fast-charging stations take about 30 minutes to recharge an electric vehicle to about 80 per cent capacity, enough to hit the road for about three hours, depending on model and conditions.

While rates vary across the country, it’s expected to cost 28 cents a minute in Nova Scotia, or roughly $8.40 for half an hour.

A spokeswoman for Tesla said the company does not comment on new charging sites until they are open, but confirmed the sites are for Tesla vehicles only.

“It means that more consumers might be inclined to buy a Tesla because of the charging infrastructure,” Woynillowicz said. “The latest vehicle, the Tesla Model 3, is at a much more competitive price so is more accessible to consumers.”

Motorists with other makes of electric vehicles aren’t likely to see a network of fast-charging stations in Nova Scotia any time soon.

Efforts by Nova Scotia Power to install a dozen fast-charging stations across the province were rejected by the energy regulator this month.

The utility had planned to build a network of Level 3 charging stations, also called direct current fast-chargers, which use a 480-volt system similar to Tesla’s “supercharger” stations.

The key difference, however, is the utility’s charging stations would have been compatible with all battery electric vehicles, not just Teslas.

NS Power had planned to locate the 12 stations roughly every 65 kilometres along Nova Scotia’s highways — ideal for a scenic getaway across the province — at a cost of $2.50 for every 15 minutes of charging.

“Electric vehicles are the future of transportation,” Karen Hutt, utility president and CEO, told a crowd gathered at NS Power’s Halifax headquarters last August. “We’re about to make it easier for Nova Scotians to own and drive an electric vehicle.”

The utility said the stations would be open this spring at a cost of roughly $884,000, about half of which was to be covered by Ottawa.

But the province’s energy regulator denied the proposal in a decision released Jan. 4.

The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board found that although electric vehicle owners would benefit from the fast-charging stations at a competitive price, the proposed project was “not in the best interest of (the utility’s) ratepayers.”

Woynillowicz said the region seems to be stuck in a chicken-and-egg scenario.

“The energy board denied Nova Scotia Power’s proposal to build these charging stations because they said not enough ratepayers own electric cars and could benefit,” he said. “But one of the concerns of consumers is ‘Am I going to be able to charge this up?’ and that requires electric vehicle charging infrastructure.”

NS Power spokeswoman Tiffany Chase agreed the lack of high-speed charging stations is a primary inhibitor to Nova Scotians adopting electric vehicles.

“It was a great opportunity to bring a high-speed charging network to Nova Scotia and understand the impacts on the electrical system, with the investment cost-shared by Natural Resources Canada,” she said in an email. “We know that electric vehicles are an important part of a lower-carbon future.”

Chase noted that other utilities have taken advantage of federal funding, such as New Brunswick Power, which is in the final stages of installing a 15-charger network.

“There’s a fast-charging network across the majority of Canada that ends at the Nova Scotia border,” she said.

NB Power has installed 13 charging stations across the province, with plans for two more.

Utility spokesman Marc Belliveau said each station will be equipped with both Level 2 and Level 3 chargers.

Meanwhile, Woynillowicz said the decision by Nova Scotia’s energy board exemplifies the need for leadership by the provincial government.

While British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec have encouraged the switch to electric vehicles through purchase incentives and significant investments in charging infrastructure, he said other provinces including the Maritime region have been slower to encourage electric cars.

Chase added that the decision highlights that there “may be an opportunity to create better alignment between government policy and the regulatory arena.”

Tesla plans to set up its supercharger stations in Halifax and Truro, while in New Brunswick the company is planning stations for Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Edmundston and Woodstock.

According to PlugShare, an online database of charging stations around the world, Nova Scotia currently has only two Level 3 — or fast-charging — stations, located in Halifax and Truro.

As part of its recently announced Smart Campus initiative, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and BlueSG Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Blue Solutions owned by the Bolloré Group, have launched Singapore’s first flash-charging electric shuttle.

Named the NTU-Blue Solutions Flash Shuttle, the shuttle is equipped with supercapacitors and a LMP® (Lithium Metal Polymer) battery developed by Blue Solutions and it can travel two kilometres on a single charge, with backup power that provides for an additional 30 kilometres.

The fully electric vehicle only requires 20 seconds to recharge at stations which are fitted for its quick charging while passengers board and alight, enabling emission-free continuous operation. Thereby the Bluetram replicates the efficiency of trams without the need for offline charging, unlike other electric vehicles that function solely on batteries.

Moreover, the costs of operating Bluetram is five to ten times lower than tram systems as it does not require costly infrastructure such as rails or catenary, and a whole line can be deployed in a matter of weeks.

Road trials have been planned for the 22-seater shuttle between NTU’s Halls of Residence at North Hill and JTC’s CleanTech One, which is part of the Jurong Innovation District where special charging stations have been built. NTU students would be able to ride the shuttle from the second half of 2018.

The joint research team comprising scientists from NTU’s Energy Research Institute (ERIAN) and BlueSG will also study the actual on-road performance of the Bluetram in Singapore’s tropical climate, including the user behaviour of passengers.

This research partnership will run for two years and is supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB), Singapore. The collaboration is also one of the key initiatives under the France-Singapore Year of Innovation, which aims to intensify cooperation on innovation between the two countries in 2018.

The university is also in talks with BlueSG to install electric vehicle car-sharing stations, adding to the existing pool of electric vehicle charging stations around campus. This will enhance NTU’s connections with nearby communities in Jurong West, Jurong East, Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Panjang, and to the rest of Singapore.

Students, staff and faculty will be able to rent a BlueSG vehicle and drive it around Singapore and return the vehicle to any BlueSG charging station [1]. Members of the public can also drive into NTU’s campus using the convenience and flexibility of the BlueSG program.

NTU President Professor Subra Suresh, said, “The move to introduce electromobility and cutting-edge transportation technologies is part of our vision to transform NTU into a Smart Campus. The use of electric vehicles in public transportation is rapidly expanding across the world, as it offers more efficient transportation systems and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

“As a leading global university with deep expertise in sustainable technologies, the NTU Smart Campus is already a living testbed for various sustainable and energy-efficient technologies, and the perfect partner for BlueSG to test and develop electric shuttles for Singapore. We expect that the insights and innovations developed from this partnership will ultimately benefit Singapore and the world by enhancing the first-mile and last-mile transportation options,” he added.

Professor Lam Khin Yong, NTU’s Vice President (Research), said partnerships with leading industry players is crucial to translate research into real-life applications.

“NTU has a strong culture of translational research, especially in the areas of electromobility and sustainability. Having worked with leading industry players such as Volvo and BMW Group in similar areas, we look forward to working closely with Bolloré to testbed the new electric shuttle at NTU, under Singapore’s climate and traffic conditions.”

Two companies plan a network of fast-charging stations for battery-powered cars in Europe that they say will help drivers of electric vehicles travel in and among the region’s main cities.

Allego and Fortum Charge & Drive said Monday they initially envision 27 e-charging hubs in 20 countries that accommodate different charging methods and speeds at the same location. Allego CEO Anja van Niersen said the hubs would serve diverse kinds of transport including commercial vehicles, buses, taxis and private vehicles, helping reduce greenhouse gases and optimizing the use of the electricity grid.

Niersen said the Mega-E network is “a concept where we can maximally combine the different levels of transportation in a way that can accommodate the needs of the metropolitan area to get rid of a lot of traffic, pollution and parking problems.”

The hubs, or charging plazas, would offer the fast stations that will be needed for future car models and will enable charging in minutes instead of hours, as is the currently the case with slow home chargers.

But the network would also accommodate earlier models and let people use different payment methods such as the companies’ own app or charging passes from other providers. “The end customer decides how he wants to use the infrastructure,” Niersen said.

Rollout is expected to start after financial details are completed in mid-2018.

The project comes amid several separate efforts by governments, auto companies, service station operators and utilities to build charging networks to support market acceptance of battery-powered cars.

In 2018, car brands don’t just want to sell cars, they want to sell you an entirely new method of living, too. Tesla might be known for making EVs, but founder Elon Musk is also keen to join up its electric cars with Tesla’s Powerwall 2 home battery, and Solar City solar panels. In the same way, Nissan’s xStorage system also offers a way for EV users to electrify even more elements of their daily lives. And now Audi wants to join the party.

Called the Smart Energy Network, Audi’s new project aims to form an intelligent energy network between your house, car and power supply. And it works with the grid too.

Audi says the project has already started in households around the Ingolstadt area – as well as Zurich – and will use a mixture of energy storage and solar panel tech to ease demand on the grid. The solar panel side is managed by a firm called Ampard, and the software used is able to intelligently react to strains on the power grid.

Although solutions like these could well end up cheaper for consumers in the long run, they’re also great for balancing out demands on the power grid. For example, energy stored at times of low consumption can be used during periods of peak demand.

‘We are looking at electric mobility in the context of an overall energy supply system that is increasingly based on renewables,’ said Dr. Hagen Seifert, head of sustainable product concepts at Audi.

‘We are playing a pioneering role with the prequalification of the balancing-power market – enabling producers to feed power into the grid, as part of the pilot project. That is now for the first time also possible down at the level of individual households, which helps balance the entire power grid.’

Why Audi, and why now?

Car makers aren’t the first people you’d expect to try and run your home, but there are a few good reasons this trend is starting to take place. Firstly, the high cost of research and development in both battery and solar technology means that brands such as Nissan and Tesla are keen to recycle or sell as many batteries as possible – and schemes like these allow that to happen.

What’s more, cars are becoming more like a smart device than ever before, and with smart home appliances like Google Nest and Alexa already on the market, it’s likely we’ll begin to treat our cars in the same way. A bit like another part of our connected puzzle.

Thirdly, brands like Tesla, Nissan and Audi could now be taking a leaf out of Apple’s book. One of the reasons for Apple’s success is the way it’s able to get consumers to buy into a strong ecosystem – and one they’re unlikely to want to leave.

Those with an iPhone will often get a MacBook and then an iPad, even if they initially want another laptop. And in the same way, if an Audi EV owner buys an Audi home battery and solar panels, chances are their next EV will also be an Audi – even though their existing devices worth with another car.

 

On analysis of the movement of Zinc futures price during the last trading session of the Week on January 19th, 2018, analist find the thick presence of Bears at current levels, which may compel the Zinc futures price to be on downward voyage. But the fall in LME zinc inventories for 13 consecutive weeks to their lowest since October 2008 have resulted in formation of a new peak of $ 3440 on January 15th, 2018, after a long gap of eleven years since it formed the top peak at $4426 in November 2006.

There was a further drop of 10,000 tons to 116,675 tons just late last week and the physical metal is in short supply is no secret. No bout that the zinc futures was been driven higher by a weak dollar last week but the growing demand for the metal, if the zinc price gets remain supported by solid manufacturing data in upcoming weeks the zinc futures price will definitely get a push upward.

But on the other hand, as robust demand for zinc has been constrained by tight supply and with Chinese smelters hit by Beijing’s environmental campaign to close energy-intensive manufacturing activities during the winter heating season.

In the coming decades, the mining of precious minerals in space is likely to have a major impact on the global economy. And existing laws are nowhere near ready for the shift

Zip into the future for a second. It’s 2035 and Earth’s population has grown dramatically. People are desperate to find alternatives to the dwindling natural resources needed to keep the global economy functioning. We have bled the Earth dry.

In January 2035, a US company becomes the first to successfully mine minerals from space and transport the cargo back to Earth. The haul contains huge quantities of gold and platinum, although it is only a fraction of the resources from the asteroid. The price of gold falls by 50 per cent.

In the spring of 2014, a team of 20 students took part in a role-playing game, in which they were placed in the above scenario. Pretending to be at the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) conference, dedicated to space mining, the students acted out how they believed each nation would respond to this completely new idea of global wealth.

The results of the roleplay have now been detailed as part of a study by researchers from Tel Aviv University, Israel, looking into the impact space mining could have on the world.

“The realisation of space exploitation will disrupt world politics,” explains Deganit Paikowsky, lead author of the paper. “We present in this paper a review of current space mining ventures, and the international legislation, which could stand in their way – or aid them in their mission.”

The researchers describes a situation in which one private company wins the race to space mining, immediately reducing the value of once precious commodities on Earth. The situation is not unlikely to happen in the future given current advances in technology.

However, according to the experts, our law is not ready for it.