Lithium News

Henrik Fisker has been sketching out big plans—well beyond cars—for the solid-state battery technology being developed by a Fisker Inc. team. And now it appears that the heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar has given it some vote of confidence.

On Oct. 22, both companies announced that a Caterpillar-owned venture group invested in the nascent automaker’s battery tech. The amount of the investment wasn’t made public.

Fisker originally intended to launch his flagship car, the EMotion, with LG Chem lithium-ion batteries when it’s due in 2020, he said. But more recently Fisker has said that it will arrive with the solid-state tech, although it’s not clear if that will happen before 2020. Fisker also is supposedly working on a $40,000 electric crossover that could also have the tech, and in the nearer term, an autonomous electric shuttle called the Orbit.

The development of Fisker’s battery technology is being led by Fabio Albano, formerly of Sakti3, a solid-state pioneer that had been bought by Dyson. Since then, Dyson has abandoned the company’s technology and is reportedly going another route for its electric cars. The first of those due in 2021 won’t include solid-state tech.

Earlier at this year’s giant CES electronics and tech show, which has become increasingly mobility-oriented, Fisker showed what was supposedly a development version of the technology in a laptop form factor.

Fisker’s solid-state approach helps overcome the manufacturing and packaging hurdles by increasing the surface area and being somewhat flexible—waffle-like, rather than a rigid block. As such, he claims it can be manufactured without a clean room and could potentially cost less to make than existing lithium-ion cells.

Fisker, a designer, has a history of being strong on ambition and brimming with ideas but coming up short on lasting, viable business models—and, some might say, the product execution. Case in point: the Fisker Karma, which lives on as the Karma Revero.

Solid-state batteries promise a number of advantages over now-conventional polymer/gel lithium-ion chemistries, but most major automakers aren’t seeing them becoming part of the electric-vehicle mix so soon, even in a minor way, until well into the next decade.

Volkswagen, with its own solid-state partner QuantumScape, recently said that isn’t planning for solid-state to become a minor portion of the electric-vehicle mix until 2025, and it doesn’t think the technology will see even modest test-fleet pilot programs until at least 2023.

That closely matches what other major automakers have said. But if Fisker Inc. can prove its technology and manufacture it in volume, in a timeline that’s shifted so far ahead, others may come knocking soon.

One of the most well-researched areas in modern technology development is battery technology. While it remains essential to all devices – smartphones, computers, laptops and cars – its process of manufacture remains highly polluting.

According to reports, half the world’s supply for cobalt is sourced from Africa, where child labour in the mining industry is still prevalent. The toxicity from cobalt has been shown to cause premature death in these children, by poisoning or susceptibility of children to its toxic effects.

The use of cobalt is essential to the supply chain of today’s devices, but not necessarily at the same levels found in most commercially available batteries, the study shows.

The study looked at levels of cobalt in rechargeable batteries, since it is the ubiquitous choice for gadgets today.

Researchers from New Jersey Institute of Technology and other academic collaborators has shown that the amount of cobalt used in batteries can be brought down, bringing its toxicity and cost down with it.

On reducing the amount of cobalt used in rechargeable batteries, a team of researchers was able to test and successfully run the devices at those cobalt levels. The study’s results show that environmentally-benign, low-cost batteries with reduced levels of cobalt were, in fact, possible.

Another source of danger from cobalt is improper disposal of batteries – a common practise worldwide. Once a battery is used and discarded, it often lands up in dustbins, landfills and finds its way into open air, where they are prone to polluting the environment, both land and air.

The cobalt component in batteries can cause many diseases, including asthma and a range of lung diseases including pneumonia and pulmonary fibrosis.

Given the awareness of cobalt toxicity to man and environment, there have been more studies and efforts, including those of Tesla Motors, towards manufacturing cobalt-free batteries.

While it may still be a few years before a cobalt-free battery could be developed and mass produced, the researchers at NJIT view their findings as “a great starting point to manufacture cobalt-less batteries.”

Batteries are ubiquitous yet often ignored, humming in the background while powering appliances, smartphones, and other parts of our lives. They’re also a pivotal piece in the environmental puzzle, as batteries better able to store energy will boost intermittent renewables like wind and solar.

But batteries themselves have environmental drawbacks, too. They contain toxic and in some cases flammable materials. And they require lots of energy to manufacture, which means high greenhouse gas emissions.

These are among the issues raised in Future Brief: Towards the Battery of the Future, a recent report from the European Commission’s Science for Environment Policy service. As researchers continue to experiment with new materials and designs — and as regulators look to shape policy — the report (and its accompanying infographic) outlines several areas for improvement.

Mining & Refining

During any battery’s lifetime, the report says, some of the worst environmental impacts come from mining and refining. Metals like cobalt and nickel are essential for conducting electricity in many batteries, but digging them out of the ground leaves behind waste that can leak toxic substances into surrounding areas.

Once these materials are mined, workers must then extract them from the rocks they’re embedded in, a process that emits large amounts of the pollutant sulfur oxide. To mitigate these harms, the report calls for more reuse and recycling of battery materials.

Researchers are working to develop higher density batteries, which the report points to as another helpful solution. By storing more energy in a smaller space, such batteries use less metal. And compared with batteries that are less dense, they can power a device for a longer stretch of time, so, for example, that electric vehicles can travel farther before needing to be recharged.

While batteries are made to store energy, the report also highlights the massive amounts of energy used to make them. “The most efficient way of reducing [greenhouse gas] emissions from the production of batteries,” the report says, “is to manufacture cells in facilities powered entirely by renewable energy sources.”

Other Considerations

Limiting energy loss, the report argues, can also have big returns. Rechargeable batteries are able to unload most, but not all, of their energy to power phones, cars, and other devices. The remaining portion is lost, with the amount varying: Standard lead-acid batteries waste 20 to 30 percent of their energy over a lifetime, while lithium-ion batteries have energy loss closer to 10 percent. Improving efficiency by even small amounts can cut down on the environmental harms of producing electricity to charge batteries, according to the report.

Other considerations covered by the report include lengthening the lifespan of batteries, recycling the materials used to make them, and, where possible, reusing batteries for less intensive functions once they’ve lost the capacity to meet their original purpose. Batteries from electric vehicles, for instance, are sometimes refurbished and used for energy storage. For their part, battery designers can make recycling and reuse more feasible by creating batteries with easily separable parts, clear labels, a relatively low number of components, and fewer dangerous materials.

Development & Invention

Many battery technologies are in development, and the report spotlights three of them as case studies:

• Solid-state lithium batteries replace the electrolyte, a key component of the battery that’s typically liquid, with solid ceramic or polymer material. The report says that these batteries will be safer and last longer, but it will be at least a decade before they become commercially available.
• Redox flow batteries store energy differently than conventional alternatives. They’re not as efficient but they last longer, which would ease demand for the natural resources and polluting production processes that batteries rely on. Researchers are working to reduce the cost and size of redox flow batteries so they can reach their full potential.
• Printed batteries have already found some commercial success. Sometimes thinner than a millimeter, they’re used in cards, tags and medical monitoring devices. According to the report, little is known about the environmental impact of printed batteries.

Batteries will always have adverse environmental impacts, but ongoing development and invention can do much to minimize them, the report concludes, noting that “changes in design and production could bring about substantial environmental benefits.”

Thank Elon Musk with his Tesla (TSLA) gigafactory for sparking a global obsession with lithium-ion batteries and the materials need to turn them out. Claimed by Musk to be the largest building in the world, the factory was planned to reach capacity in stages. By the time the factory is fully completed in 2020, production capacity is expected to be 150 gigawatt hours of battery packs.

Ever since construction of Musk’s gigafactory began in 2014, investors around the world have been fretting over the adequacy of lithium supplies in particular. The gigafactory concept appeared to trigger a whole slew of ‘me too’ factories with at least a dozen now in construction and commissioning stages in the North America, Europe, China and Southeast Asia. According to Roskill, a London-based consulting firm, lithium demand from battery cell makers is expected to double by 2027, to one million metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Projections of lithium demand have sent the lithium mining industry into a tizzy. The leaders like Sociedad Quimica y Minera, Albemarle Corp., FMC Corporation and Tianqi Lithium smooth out maps and scanned geological reports to expand production. They were not alone. Any number of explorers and developers hit the dusty roads winding through deserts and mountain ranges to confirm and measure precious lithium deposits.

It has been a race among the new developers to see who would reach the market first. One of the winners is Nemaska Lithium. In September 2017, Nemaska began producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide solution at a pilot-scale plant using spodumene concentrate from the company’s Whabouchi mine in northern Quebec. Nemaska has successfully started filling purchase orders in Summer 2018.

Nemaska has not just brought new lithium supplies to the market. The company has also developed a new electrochemical process to produce battery-grade lithium materials from spodumene, a crystalline mineral found around the world. Nemaska has located its electrochemical plant in Shawinigan in south eastern Quebec, a location favored by paper mills and power plants.

Lithium is usually separated from spodumene through a series of processes, beginning with wet and dry screening of the crushed rock. The flotation stage material is then subjected to high temperature and chemical roasting using sulfuric acid. Additionally, soda ash is used to produce lithium carbonate. It is a capital and labor intensive process not to mention the environmental consequences of using harsh chemicals and large amounts of water and energy.

Nemaska has developed a process based on electrolysis. True enough the method requires copious amounts of electricity – something that is easy to come by in the Shawinigan area. However, it eliminates the need for harsh chemicals, including the soda ash needed for lithium carbonate. The streamlined process delivers important cost savings to Nemaska.

Demand may be building for lithium supplies, but that does not mean lithium producers can expect ever higher prices. Indeed, Roskill is predicting lower selling prices ahead even as demand for lithium hits unprecedented levels. That is because new supplies are coming on line and could swamp the market – at least in the short-term. Lithium carbonate is expected to level off near $11,000 per metric ton in the next three years compared to the current average near $14,000. Likewise lithium hydroxide is expected to follow a similar path from the current $16,500 per metric ton to near $13,000. Roskill does suggest that in the long-term prices should return to peak levels set in 2018.

If reduced selling prices are ahead, low-cost producers will be favored over the rest of the pack. This is perhaps one of the most important points of the Nemaska investment case – comparative advantage. Roskill does suggest that in the long-term prices should return to peak levels set in 2018. In the meantime, Nemaska’s streamlined electrochemical process to produce battery-grade lithium is more likely to deliver profits even under depressed price conditions.

Automakers turn towards life-cycle loop for batteries.

The times when plug-in electric carmakers were solely purchasing battery cells to produce battery packs is not the case for the future electrification at scale.

Take, for example, BMW, which already has competence in battery module and pack production, energy storage systems (including second-life batteries) and cell developments. The next steps will be to partner with 3rd parties engaged in battery cell production and recycling.

Most recently, BMW Group joined forces with Northvolt (European battery gigafactory project) and Umicore (battery recycling company) to work closely together on the continued development of a complete and sustainable value chain – lifecycle loop for batteries.

In other words, automakers will have exact knowledge of about batteries from raw materials through cells, modules, packs, second-life, recycling for raw materials. It’s good because will enable to order battery cell format and design modules in a way that will be later easier for recycling.

“In Europe, the BMW Group has already been manufacturing modules with supplied battery cells before using these modules to build complete batteries for plug-in hybrids and battery-powered electric vehicles. With its battery cell production, Northvolt provides the final element needed for purely European production of complete batteries for electric mobility applications in future, resulting in a substantial reduction in carbon emissions at the same time.

The BMW Group is already demonstrating now how batteries can be used as energy storage devices in both domestic and industrial applications once the battery cells reach the end of their vehicle life cycle.

Umicore has recently announced it will soon start building a cathode material manufacturing facility in Europe and already runs a recycling plant for lithium-ion batteries in Europe. Umicore is advancing the technology for recycling battery cells and returning the recycled resources to the material production cycle, thereby making a vital contribution to the future of sustainable mobility.”

Recently Umicore entered battery recycling partnership with Audi.

Press blast:

BMW Group, Northvolt and Umicore join forces to develop sustainable life cycle loop for batteries.

The BMW Group, Northvolt and Umicore have formed a joint technology consortium in order to work closely together on the continued development of a complete and sustainable value chain for battery cells for electrified vehicles in Europe.

The Victorian Government has launched the state’s first large-scale lithium ion battery, capable of powering more than 20,000 homes for an hour during peak demand.

The 30 MW/30 MWh Ballarat Energy Storage System (BESS), located in western Victoria, consists of nine custom-built enclosures housing batteries, the operating system and environmental controls, as well as cooling, security and safety systems.

BESS is the first of two grid-scale batteries announced by the State Government in March. The second is a Tesla 25 MW/50 MWh battery at the 60 MW Gannawarra Solar Farm near Kerang in northwest Victoria.

Both batteries are expected to be online in time for increased demand during the hot summer months and will be operated by EnergyAustralia under long-term offtake agreements.

The Gannawarra battery is the first to be co-located with a solar farm in Victoria. The first in Australia was claimed by Queensland in February with the commissioning of the Lakeland solar and storage project on the Cape York Peninsula, which combines a 13 MW solar array with 1.4 MW/5.3 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage.

Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said in a media release that the batteries are part of the State Government’s plan to transition to a more affordable, reliable and clean energy system.

“We’re modernising our electricity grid, strengthening our energy security and delivering real action on climate change,” she said.

Ballarat’s local media reported D’Ambrosio said the battery will help ensure energy supply to meet demand with less costly network upgrades than would otherwise be required.

“It ensures we have the fast, rapid response for energy supply to mitigate against increased cost of infrastructure upgrades along the network,” she said.

Following its official opening, BESS will undergo final testing before becoming fully operational.

Batteries improving grid stability
The Victorian batteries have been funded to the tune of $50 million, with the State Government’s $25 million contribution matched by a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

According to ARENA CEO Darren Miller, BESS will help increase the stability of the western Victorian grid.

“This battery will help to ease constraints on transmission lines in western Victoria that currently curtail the output of wind and solar, while also helping to bring in more renewables to the grid,” Miller said.

Miller cited the success of South Australia’s massive Tesla 100 MW/129 MW battery to emphasise the importance of large-scale batteries in providing short-term energy storage and rapid-response power injections to stabilise the grid.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) recently told the ABC that the South Australian battery has exceeded expectations in dispatching power much more rapidly and precisely than conventional thermal power stations.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised and would encourage more of this technology into the grid,” said AEMO General Manager of Operations Damien Sanford.

AEMO stated the South Australian battery is unprecedented in providing small adjustments to balance supply and demand as well as maintain operating frequency at close to 50 Hz – known as frequency control ancillary services (FCAS). While conventional power stations take seconds to make these adjustments, the battery takes milliseconds.

The market operators has also given the mega-battery a big share of the credit for reducing the cost of FCAS by 57 per cent ($33 million) in the first quarter of 2018. This was a good return on the South Australian Government’s annual $4 million commitment to purchase stored power from the battery as an emergency reserve.

The ARENA project description said the BESS project will also investigate providing grid services such as FCAS.