Lithium News

Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are among the most widespread rechargeable battery technologies, due to their high energy densities and performances. Despite their versatility and advantageous characteristics, these batteries often require specific times to charge and speeding up these charging times has so far proved challenging.

The main reason for this is that during fast charging, lithium plating could form on the batteries’ graphite anode, which could pose safety risks. In fact, lithium plating reactions on graphite anodes, which can also occur at low temperatures, during overcharging or following battery malfunctions, can lead to the formation of non-cyclable lithium metal and salts, which could ignite causing fires or battery explosions.

Researchers at University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently carried out a study investigating potential ways to reduce these risks and enable the creation of safe fast-charging LiBs. Their paper, published in Nature Energy, outlines a series of simple techniques for quantifying irreversible Li plating on the graphite anodes inside LiBs.

“We demonstrate the power of simple, accessible and high-throughput cycling techniques to quantify irreversible Li plating spanning data from over 200 cells,” Zachary M. Konz, Brandan M. Wirtz and their colleagues wrote in their paper. “We first observe the effects of energy density, charge rate, temperature and state of charge on lithium plating, use the results to refine a mature physics-based electrochemical model and provide an interpretable empirical equation for predicting the plating onset state of charge. We then explore the reversibility of lithium plating and its connection to electrolyte design for preventing irreversible Li accumulation.”

The experiments carried out by Konz and his colleagues highlighted the value of their proposed techniques for quantifying lithium plating in Li/Graphite and graphite/NMC battery cells. Using these techniques, they were able to gather valuable insight about the plating processes in these types of batteries, as well as improvements that could improve their safety and potentially enable fast-charging.

“We design a method to quantify in situ Li plating for commercially relevant graphite|LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2 (NMC) cells and compare with results from the experimentally convenient Li|graphite configuration,” Konz and his colleagues explained in their paper. “The hypotheses and abundant data herein were generated primarily with equipment universal to the battery researcher, encouraging further development of innovative testing methods and data processing that enable rapid battery engineering.”

The recent work by this team of researchers contributes to ongoing efforts aimed at further improving the safety of LiBs and speeding up their charging times. So far, detecting lithium plating on these batteries’ anodes was deemed very difficult, which hindered the creation and large-scale deployment of fast-charging LiBs.

The lithium plating detection techniques proposed by Konz and his colleagues could soon inform further research aimed at devising safer fast-charging LiB designs. In addition, they could help to better understand the factors and processes that promote plating, which could in turn guide research works exploring alternative battery designs and chemistries.

The United States and European Union are working toward agreement in principle on a deal to make European minerals eligible for tax credits, a senior EU official said Friday.

The $430 billion US Inflation Reduction Act passed in August requires rising percentages of battery minerals to come from the United States or a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partner.

The EU official said an agreement could come as early as next week, in time for a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Washington, on a deal that would give the EU “free trade agreement-like status.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say if a high-level deal that would provide free trade-like status to the EU could be reached before von der Leyen’s visit, removing an irritant in US-EU ties, but underscored Washington’s desire to maintain a strong working relationship with the EU.

“Of course, we want to make sure there’s a good working relationship,” she said.

Up to $3,750 per vehicle of the available tax credits relate to critical minerals for batteries, taking effect when the US Treasury issues guidance, which is expected later this month.

The EU official said it was critical to reach an agreement soon, given moves by some European companies to shift production to the United States.

“We need to react now, and we need to at least avoid as much as possible these disturbances, by granting an FTA-like status, and having better access when it comes to raw materials, battery production, for example.”

He said the US side was pressing for the agreement to be “legally binding,” but it would be difficult have that in place ahead of von de Leyen’s visit. “I think that commitment to do this, and to do it quickly, could well be an outcome of next week’s discussions.”

The agreement would be limited, the official said.

​ “We’re not talking about market access here … This would be very reduced and certainly not a free trade agreement in the classical way,” the official said.

The EU, South Korea, Japan and other US allies have harshly criticized the IRA’s provision requiring EVs to be produced in North America to qualify for consumer EV tax credits.

But the EU in December praised a US Treasury Department decision to allow EVs leased by consumers to qualify for up to $7,500 in commercial clean vehicle tax credits.

Tesla executives met last month with Chilean authorities, including the ministers of foreign affairs and mining, as well as representatives for the country’s development agency Corfo, as the electric cars maker redoubles efforts to secure supplies of battery metals, particularly lithium.

The hearings, local newspaper La Tercera reports, also included executives from Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), the word’s top lithium miner and the main competitor of Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM) in the Salar de Atacama salt flat, which contains the world’s highest known concentrations of lithium and potassium.

The official minutes of the meeting, disclosed by Corfo, show that Tesla is interested in knowing the agency’s development plans for the sector as well as the opportunities for collaboration with lithium producers such as Albemarle.

Talks come as the Chilean government is planning to take a page out of Mexico’s book and create a state-run lithium company, although authorities are open to let private companies in the sector through tenders.

While the administration has yet to release final details, it has said the proposed national lithium company will seek out minority partners to provide the technical knowledge the government lacks.

Private firms that win tenders may also be allowed to operate individual lithium projects under a minority stake.

The state-run miner’s first main asset would be Codelco’s lithium project at the Salar de Maricunga, a salt flat that hosts Chile’s second-largest reserves of the battery metal.

From mining to refining

Elon Musk wants more lithium, but only a handful of countries can supply the material key to the electrification of transportation.

While Tesla’s chief executive office has hinted in the past that the company planned to get into mining, he now says the firm is more focused on refining lithium than on extracting the battery metal.

The “limiting factor” is refining the metal, not actually finding it, as no country has a monopoly on deposits, Musk said Wednesday during the EV maker’s investor day.

Tesla’s goal is to produce 20 million EVs a year by 2030. It delivering around 1.31 million units in 2022.

Ahead of the 2023 investor day on Tuesday, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that Tesla had agreed to build a large factory in Monterrey.

The factory will be one of the country’s first that is entirely dedicated to the expensive and complex process of making electric cars.

China’s lithium mining will likely face disruption as the government steps up scrutiny of a range of problems that have emerged from extracting the metal, experts said on Wednesday.

Yichun, a city in the southern province of Jiangxi, suspended all lithium mining late last week to crack down on criminal activity, such as unlicensed and environmentally damaging mining.

Though at least some mining has resumed, experts said the government was increasing oversight of a sector that has boomed in recent years as lithium prices soared alongside burgeoning demand for battery-powered electric cars.

“Environmental issues and illegal mining are the prominent problems in Jiangxi, where around one third of domestic lithium resource supply comes from,” said Wu Wei, assistant professor at the China New Energy Policy Research Institute of Xiamen University.

“We’re likely to see regular inspections to regulate the industry as an effort for China to enhance its self-supply sufficiency of the metal critical in the new energy transition,” Wu said.

Jiangxi has large reserves of lepidolite, a lithium-containing mineral. But the relatively low grade of lithium in it requires heavy extraction, said Wu.

“The mining and processing also pollute water as a result of its byproducts like tantalum and thallium,” he said.

Yichun’s big miners with valid permits have resumed operations, even as the inspection continues.

“Our production is now normal,” an official at Yichun Tantalum Niobium Mine Company Limited, a major lithium miner and processor, told Reuters on Wednesday.

About a third of the area’s output is still suspended, however, due to a lack of permits, said a Shanghai-based lithium analyst who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Yichun’s Bureau of Industry and Information Technology could not be reached for comment.

The investigation comes after a sharp decline in lithium prices, triggered by slowing demand for electric vehicles in China.

Mining in Yichun has boomed in the last two years, growing from a couple of dozen ore selection plants to more than 200, said the analyst, adding that more inspections are likely.

Battery recycling company Li-Cycle said Monday it’s secured a conditional $375 million loan from the Department of Energy to develop a recycling facility for key battery materials near Rochester, New York.

For lithium-ion batteries specifically, much of the focus has been on mining. While the U.S. has an abundance of lithium, getting it out of the ground is expensive, and projects frequently face local opposition.

The price of lithium has eased back from record levels hit earlier this year, but in the last three years prices are still up more than 800%. The rapid appreciation comes as some believe there simply won’t be enough supply to meet growing demand from electric vehicles.

The Rochester facility will significantly expand Li-Cycle’s reach. The company currently has four plants in North America where it processes battery materials. But the new plant will be able to take it one step further, turning the recycled product into materials that can be used for future batteries.

When fully operational, the plant will recycle up to 200,000 vehicles’ worth of lithium-ion batteries annually, according to the company. From that, the site will produce 8,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate as well as nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate.

Monday’s announcement comes amid the United States’ push to develop domestic manufacturing and supply chains for materials and technologies critical to the energy transition. The incentives and credits in the Inflation Reduction have fueled a frenzy of announcements from companies looking to jumpstart operations on U.S. soil.

Earlier this year the Department of Energy announced a conditional loan of up to $700 million for miner Ioneer to develop the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Esmeralda County, Nevada.

But Li-Cycle co-founder and CEO Ajay Kochhar said recycling will also play a key role.

“Recycling is an unappreciated, or not as appreciated, alleviator of that supply need,” he told CNBC. “I think of course we need both primary, meaning mine sources, and secondary…every unit counts of lithium, nickel, cobalt. I think with the overlay of the IRA and the overlay of the corporate targets around sourcing for these materials, recycling is going to be very important.”

Kochhar forecasts that in the next 10 years the recycling industry could meet between 10% and 20% of demand for battery-grade lithium, nickel and cobalt. Thirty years down the line he believes recycling will be a “very significant portion of demand,” potentially meeting more than 50%.

“Everybody’s scrambling to get units. Every unit counts. Being an alleviator – a domestic source, a cleaner source, is super helpful to our customers,” he added.

If approved the loan, which is subject to certain conditions, will be made under the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. Li-Cycle said it expects the loan to close during the second quarter, with the company planning to initiate commissioning of the Rochester facility late this year.

Li-Cycle was founded in 2016, and went public in August 2021 through a SPAC. The company has received strategic investments from Glencore, Koch Strategic Platforms and LG Chem.