Lithium News

Weak lithium prices cratered Tianqi Lithium’s Q1 net profit which fell by 83%, according to a company financial statement release today (in Chinese).

Tianqi, which is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, saw its stock drop 11% today to 29.63 yuan (US$4.40). The company’s 52-week range is 63.23 yuan (US$9.39) to 26.75 yuan (US$3.97).

Lithium prices have been in a long decline. According to Metal Bulletin, lithium cabonate reached a high of 180,000 yuan (US$26,726) per tonne at the start of 2017. The current price is 74,000 yuan (US$10,987).

In December Tianqi bought a 23.77% stake in Chilean lithium miner SQM from Nutrien for $4.066 billion. The move kicked off a legal spat between the two companies, which has since cooled. Tianqi nominated three SQM board members earlier this month.

Last year Tianqi Lithium announced that it was spending US$382 million to expand Greenbushes, a lithium hydroxide plant located in Western Australia.

The total cost of ownership of some electric vehicles in Australia could match that of their petrol and diesel equivalents as soon as next year, according to BloombergNEF, and – with the right policies – the share of new vehicle sales could reach 50 per cent by 2030 as targeted by Labor.

In a major new report looking at the Australian vehicle market, BNEF says the prospect of growing interest in EVs and their rapidly falling costs means that the share of new sales would likely reach 28 per cent on a “business-as-usual” basis.

But, it says, with the right policies the gap between 28 per cent and Labor’s targeted 50 per cent could be reached. And it appears to endorse Labor’s strategy of focusing on the fleet market, which BNEF says will be the first large-scale adopters of EVs.

Fleet owners are more attuned to the “total cost of ownership” rather than just the upfront costs, and a breakthrough moment could occur as early as next year, BNEF suggests in its report.

“Electric vehicles should start to achieve total cost of ownership parity with equivalent ICEs (internal combustion engine) as early as 2020 in Australia for some segments of the market,” BNEF analyst Ali Asghar says in his report.

“The TCO (total cost of ownership) is the metric likely to influence purchasing decisions of fleet owners and managers,” he says.

“Since TCO parity could start earlier than upfront cost parity of EVs (relative to ICEs), it is likely that fleet purchases in Australia will pick up prior to significant growth in private car purchase.”

Labor’s proposal to target a 50 per cent per share of new vehicle sales for electrics and plug in hybrids by 2030 has – surprisingly – caused uproar in Australia as the Coalition and conservatives reacted with bizarre predictions of the death of the weekend and accusations that Labor wanted to “steal” people’s utes.

The debate is even more bizarre because the Coalition’s own emissions reduction policy assumes as uptake of EVs somewhere between the BNEF forecasts and Labor’s target. It plans to reveal its own EV strategy next year, should it retain government, but refused to do so in the election campaign.

This graph illustrates BNEF’s forecast for total cost of ownership in Australia. It shows that it may be another few years before the popular SUV vehicle class reaches parity, but medium sized battery electric vehicles could reach TCO parity in 2020.

The graph to the left comes from the report released by BNEF earlier this month on the global market, which suggested that the upfront cost of electric vehicles could beat their ICE equivalents by 2023. Australia could follow within a year or two.

But this is highly dependent on manufacturer choices, and – for local consumers – how they react to the Australia market, and whether there are fuel emissions standards in place (Currently, there are none, but Labor is proposing to follow US, rather than the stricter European, standards).

By 2030, BNEF predicts, the average cost of a midsize battery electric vehicle will decline from more than $50,000 in 2018 to near $37,000 by 2030. That puts it in the middle of the $20,000 to $50,000 range that Australians now spend on such cars.

The average cost of a SUV battery vehicle is expected to fall from around $60,000 in 2018 to around $45,000 by 2030. This is in the mid to higher range of the $30,000 to $50,000 range that Australians now spend on such vehicles.

(It is interesting to note Tesla’s experience that buyers of its top selling Model 3 have “upgraded” their normal spending range while buying the highly sought-after EV. But it’s not clear this will be true of the real “mass-market”.

(Also, BNEF notes these predictions are “averages”, so some EVs could be cheaper, earlier, than their ICE equivalents. Sanjeev Gupta, for instance, is still insisting he will set up an EV manufacturing plant in Australia with low-cost EVs that he says will fall in price like TV screens).

Still, BNEF notes, the difference between business as usual and what could happen with policy intiatives is significant, as this graph below illustrates.

Iowa utility regulators will allow retailers to sell energy for electric vehicle charging by the quantity — a move some advocates say marks a win for the state’s budding electric vehicle infrastructure.

Traditionally, energy for electric vehicle charging has been sold by an increment of time, but the Iowa Utilities Board earlier this month allowed for that energy to be sold by whatever format they wish, including kilowatt-hour.

Mark Schuling, Iowa’s consumer advocate, said charging stations can distribute energy at different speeds, meaning one hour at one station can provide a different amount of energy than an hour at the next station.

By allowing for the sale of energy by a quantity, consumers will better know what they’re purchasing, he said.

“It’s like a gallon of gas. You put 10 gallons of gas into your car, you know how far that’s going to get you,” Schuling said.

Last year, officials with the Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott requested the utilities board allow energy to be sold by the kilowatt-hour, which at the time was prohibited by state law.

Delia Meier, senior vice president of the Iowa 80 Truckstop, told The Gazette last year that the prohibition was holding up plans to install six fast-charging stations at the truck stop.

According to the law, only an operating utility was allowed to sell power by the kilowatt-hour.

Most of Iowa’s electric vehicle charging takes place at the vehicle owners’ homes. External charging stations traditionally sell energy by an increment of time or provide power free with the cost of parking.

However, the Iowa Utilities Board last August opened an investigation to determine if retailers also could sell power by the kilowatt-hour.

The final ruling prohibits a rate-regulated utility from restricting the method of sale of energy for electric vehicle charging. That energy still is subject to the utility’s tariff, which is filed with the state board, according to the ruling.

“We see this as a positive, because it opens the market up and could increase the number of electric vehicle charging stations that are out there,” Schuling said.

A 2016 report by the Iowa Economic Development Authority titled “Advancing Iowa’s Electric Vehicle Market” notes that allowing owners of charging stations to bill directly for electricity opens the door to increased investment in Iowa’s fast-charging infrastructure.

“By implementing a model that sells electricity on a watt-for-watt basis, there is more transparency and a perception of fairness that will allow consumers to see exactly what they are paying for when using these charging stations, similarly to how the average consumer pays a per-gallon price at the pump to fill their cars,” the report notes.

In other electric vehicle news, Iowa lawmakers last week approved increased costs for the state’s electric vehicle owners.

US data centre power biz Vertiv reports that li-ion cells are selling like hot cakes, and are now responsible for a third of its battery business – despite lingering concerns about their safety among some IT pros.

The company has launched a new battery box designed specifically for li-ion – its first product to use a homegrown battery management system (BMS). Such systems are designed to protect the cells against over-current, over-voltage and temperatre anomalies; a proprietary BMS could alleviate some of the concerns typically asscoiated with introducing li-ion into the server room.

The Vertiv HPL system is sized like a standard server cabinet and contains six battery modules, equipped with sensors to enable real-time monitoring at the cell, module, system and facility level.

It can support 200 kW of IT per box – with average power densities being somewhere between 5kW and 10kW per rack, a single unit would easily serve an entire data hall. Up to eight battery cabinets can be connected to a single UPS for more capacity.

The HPL is compatible with most current and legacy Vertiv three-phase UPS systems. It is available immediately in the US and Asia – Vertiv told The Reg that availability in EMEA is expected in late Q3.

Li-ion batteries offer several facets to data centre operators: they are smaller and lighter than traditional valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries, but supply the same amount of power and their lifespan is approximately twice as long.

On the downside, they cost approximately twice as much, and there are long-standing concerns about their safety, no doubt inspired by an endless barrage of stories describing mobile devices exploding and catching fire.

It is important to note that not all li-ion batteries are created equal: cells used in data centers usually rely on lithium manganese oxide (LMO) or lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LMC) chemistries, used in power tools and electric vehicles, rather than cheaper lithium cobalt oxide cells usually found in mobile devices.

Li-ion enthusiasts like Schneider Electric (PDF) have long maintained that thanks to their lenghthier lifespan, the total cost of ownership of li-ion power backup systems is actually lower than VRLA-based systems – as long as you’re planning to sweat your assets for at least a decade.

“Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly common in the data centre, now representing about 30 per cent of our deployments worldwide,” said Jeff Kessen, veep for energy storage at Vertiv. ®

The wholly-owned US manufacturing subsidiary of LG Chem, Ltd. filed a pair of lawsuits against South Korean-owned SK Innovation., Ltd. for misappropriation of Li-ion battery trade secrets, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and other claims.

Brought jointly by LGCMI, the US-subsidiary, and its parent corporation, the suits were filed concurrently with the United States International Trade Commission and the United States District Court of Delaware.

The suits allege that defendants accessed trade secrets by SK Innovation’s hiring of 77 employees in the lithium-ion battery division of LG Chem, which developed the world’s first commercial pouch-type Li-ion battery for automobiles. This technology has been adopted by automotive manufacturers worldwide as well as other consumer electronics applications.

These employees include dozens of engineers involved in the research and development, manufacturing and assembly, and quality assurance testing of Li-ion batteries, including the newest and most advanced generation battery technology.

The lawsuits allege that a significant number of these workers engaged in the theft of LG Chem’s trade secrets to benefit SK Innovation in the development and manufacturing of pouch-type Li-ion batteries, of which LG Chem is the world’s leading supplier.

An internal audit of company communications and other data revealed that these employees openly conspired not only to steal LG Chem’s trade secrets but to leverage that information in employment considerations before SK Innovation. Applications and curriculum vitae, written specially for SK Innovation and stored on LG Chem computers, suggested these employees traded in LG Chem’s valuable trade secrets to secure employment with SK Innovation, according to the charges.

For example, one of these employees inserted LG Chem’s key technical trade secret information regarding electrode manufacturing process on his curriculum vitae for SK Innovation. Some of these employees downloaded 400 to 1,900 key technical documents from LG Chem’s data server before their move to SK Innovation, the company charged.

From the end of 2016—when the move of these 77 employees began—to the beginning of this year, SK Innovation’s aggregated amount of EV battery supply in contract has increased by more than fourteen times.

SK Innovation has taken LG Chem’s highly skilled engineers and other critical business services staff, thereby gaining access to LG Chem’s highly valued lithium ion battery trade secrets. As a direct consequence of that theft, SK Innovation has begun manufacturing and selling imitation Li-ion batteries to LG Chem’s customers and prospects across the world.—Hak Cheol Shin, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LG Chem

LG Chem is seeking injunctive relief to cease any importation of Li-ion batteries, including both commercial Li-ion battery cells and modules, and to bar SK Innovation from importing the manufacturing and testing equipment necessary to build Li-ion batteries, as the machinery similarly relies on LG Chem’s trade secrets. Additionally, the company is seeking to prevent further disclosure and use of trade secrets and significant monetary damages.

LG Chem has already dealt with SK Innovation on a similar issue in Korea, where it sued five of its former employees who moved to SK Innovation for breach of their non-compete obligations. The Supreme Court of Korea ruled in favor of LG Chem, holding that the actual threat of potential disclosure of LG Chem’s valuable trade secret information justified the enforcement of the non-compete obligations.

LG Chem is one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturers with a market-leading position in advanced batteries for grid-scale, residential storage and automotive applications. Its advanced lithium ion battery technology is the product of 23 years of experience in the development and production of mobile batteries and large-format batteries for automotive and energy storage systems (ESS).

Powering up an electric car is not just a question of plugging in. Drivers can also fuel up with hydrogen gas. Electric vehicles that get their power source from hydrogen fuel are growing in popularity, particularly in California, as the industry expands the number of hydrogen refueling locations.

“For fuel cells and hydrogen in particular, there’s been a notable transition away from the demonstration and research phase,” said Andrew Martinez, a hydrogen program expert at the California Air Resources Board, speaking during a recent webinar hosted by Veloz, an electric vehicle advocacy nonprofit in Sacramento. “These are no longer vehicles where essentially every driver is hand-picked. These are vehicles that are getting to real customers on the real market.

“We made that transition, and now we need to look at how do we enable getting to scale? How do we get a much wider distribution of stations today to enable an even greater acceleration of vehicle deployment?” Martinez added.

Today, some 6,300 hydrogen fuel cell cars operate in the state. They are able to refuel at 39 locations, spread from north to south, with another 25 currently in development, say officials.

California aims to have 200 refueling stations by 2025 and 1,000 stations by 2030, said Martinez.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars are essentially electric vehicles powered by an electric motor. However, rather than the motor receiving its energy from an onboard battery that must be charged, hydrogen is mixed with oxygen to create electricity. The byproduct is water, and the cars are lauded for being free of tailpipe emissions. But because the cars need to be fueled with hydrogen gas, they cannot be recharged by simply plugging them into an outlet at home in the garage like a battery-electric car. This is why supporters stress that an adequate network of refueling stations is necessary for consumers to even consider the cars.

The hydrogen refueling station infrastructure is needed to jump-start the adoption of fuel cell cars, according to Bill Elrick, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. “The market is real. It’s open, and people are purchasing these cars as soon as we can open stations,” he said during the webinar.

“We can achieve that vision of a self-sustaining market through the establishment of 1,000 hydrogen stations throughout the state to support up to, or even more than, 1 million fuel cell vehicles. And our goal is to accomplish that by 2030 or sooner,” said Elrick.

To put the discussion into context, California has about 8,000 gas stations. Placing 1,000 fuel cell stations “strategically across the state” could provide the capacity and coverage needed for drivers to travel anywhere throughout California, Elrick added.

The fuel cell market definitely has some catching up to do. More than 570,000 battery electric cars have been sold in California since 2011, according to Veloz, with sales continuing to surge. Nearly 1.2 million battery-powered EVs have been sold nationwide. There are also more than 40 brands of EVs to choose from. This compares to only three hydrogen fuel cell options: Toyota Mirai, Honda Clarity or the Hyundai Nexo.

Where fuel cell cars offer competitiveness is in their range and ease of refueling, which takes about five minutes. The Honda Clarity has an advertised range of about 360 miles. (However, a 2017 review of the car by USA Today found the range to be closer to 300 miles.) Fuel cell vehicles may also be the better option for drivers who are unable to recharge at home.

“Really, this offers choice for people. Home charging is a great thing, if it works for you. But we know it doesn’t work for everybody,” said Stephen Ellis, manager of fuel cell vehicles at American Honda Motor Co.

The Clarity is available for California motorists for $379 a month for a three-year lease, with $2,800 due at signing. The lease includes a $15,000 fuel card allowance. Honda also provides a 21-day access to an Avis rental car for customers who may find themselves needing to take a trip into some of the many parts of the country where hydrongen refueling options are few.

The cars have a fuel economy of 68 miles per kilogram, which is equivalent to 68 mpg. Hydrogen fueling stations charge about $13 to $17 per kilogram.

Hydrogen brings “a better product and customer choice,” said Wayne Leighty, hydrogen business development manager with Shell New Energies, speaking during the Veloz webinar.

“As we launch the commercial introduction of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, we are seeing all the benefits of an electric vehicle, with all the convenience and freedom of refueling,” he added.