Lithium News

Electric Vehicles

UPS started testing electric heavy-duty trucks from Californian startup Thor. UPS also placed an order for a whopping 950 Workhorse N-GEN electric delivery vans. I just had to double check, but that’s right — 950!

Faraday Future is back! It apparently secured $2 billion in financing to keep its EV dream alive. We’ll see where that goes.

Kia Niro EV now on sale in South Korea. Maybe we’ll see it in California and Alabama soon. Or not.

The Hyundai Kona EV, a cousin of the Kia Niro, landed a whopping 7,000 orders in Norway in just two weeks on the market there. Let’s hope Hyundai lines up the batteries.

Nissan announced that a new LEAF was being sold every 10 minutes in Europe. That sounds like a lot. That said, it’s nothing close to Tesla Model 3 demand. (CleanTechnica report coming.)

Volkswagen announced it will manufacture electric cars in the United States. Volkswagen will also offer the market electric vehicles for carsharing via its WE service — starting in Germany in 2019 and then expanding to large cities in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Jaguar says it is investing $18 billion into electric drivetrain development in the next three years.

Porsche, meanwhile, bought a 10% stake in noted Croatian EV startup Rimac Automobilii.

BMW’s US plug-in vehicle sales are now 7% of all BMW passenger car sales in the country, making it a leading plug-in vehicle automaker in relative terms.

Magna and Beijing Electric Vehicle Company (a subsidiary of Chinese auto giant BAIC) announced a plan to build electric cars together in China. Yup, another major auto company is growing tentacles in China.

Byton, an EV startup out of China, secured $500 million in Series B funding.

BYD joined the CharIN Ev charging standard association.

Boeing and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced they are working on lidar systems for electric flight.

Equator Aircraft’s P2 Xcursion electric-hybrid seaplane prototype took its maiden flight.

The 2019 Alta Redshift EXR electric motorcycle was rolled out.

Batteries

CATL shared that it will be building a battery factory in Germany for BMW and Volkswagen electric vehicles.

Energy Absolute, a battery storage company, announced that it is building a 1 GWh factory in Thailand that could grow to a capacity of 50 GWh — maybe.

Conamix joined the push to develop cobalt-free EV batteries — or at least unveiled it was part of that effort.

Hyundai and Wärtsilä have partnered to turn used EV batteries into stationary battery storage systems.

EV Charging

Volta Charging raised $35 million in funding for further growth and development.

BMW also wanted in on the EV charging fun and snapped up UK electric vehicle (EV) charging station network Chargemaster.

Honda, eMotorWerks, & Southern California Edison partnered on an innovative new smart charging program.

The UK enacted forward-looking legislation regarding EV charging and autonomous vehicles.

ChargePoint, a US charging giant, snapped up fleet energy management software producer Kisensum.

EV Sales

European EV sales rose 37% in June 2018 compared to June 2017.

Chinese EV sales rose 77% in June 2018 compared to June 2017.

In the Netherlands, EV sales rose 141% and Tesla had a record sales month.

In France, EV sales rose a much more modest 13%.

In the US, Loren McDonald noted that new EV models are now accounting for the majority of EV sales.

Tesla, Tesla, Tesla

Tesla got one foot out of production hell. It is (yet again) executing like many said it couldn’t.

That means that Tesla sales have skyrocketed. After passing a production target of 5,000 units a week, the Model 3 is actually the 7th or 8th best selling car in the United States and is crushing competitors in the small & midsize luxury car market. Furthermore, Tesla passed its 200,000th US delivery, kicking in the long phaseout of the federal EV tax credit for Tesla buyers (unless that tax credit policy gets modified).

Actually, Tesla’s production and sales rate has seemingly passed up Jaguar’s and Porsche’s.

So, it’s no surprised that certain billionaires have been losing massive amounts of money betting against Tesla. And those billions in paper losses have multiplied in the past few days thanks to CEO Elon Musk tweeting an intention to take the company private. But, but — what are all the shorts going to do with their time and money if Tesla goes private?

Battery life may be one of the key selling points of Huawei’s next big phone release, which we’re expecting to be called the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

A teaser sent from Huawei to TechRadar hints that the battery capacity will be larger than it was on the Huawei P10 Plus, Mate 10 Pro or P20 Pro.

TechRadar was sent a small safe – yeah, you read that right – where if you enter today’s date (0908) it opens and reveals a teaser for the battery on whatever phone is coming next.

Pictured are two devices with 4000mAh cells, alongside one with a 3750mAh cell and the last diagram then suggests the battery will be bigger on the upcoming phone.

That last image on the right is actually printed onto a portable battery pack, which again is 4000mAh. That doesn’t give us any evidence of how big the battery is considering the diagram suggests it’ll be bigger than that.

There’s no word on the name of the phone or how much bigger the battery will be, but the fact we’re getting teasers about it already suggests we may be nearing a launch for the Mate 20 Pro.

The timeline at the bottom of the teaser shows how the Mate 10 series was announced in October last year, so it may be the company is aiming for an October launch again this year or perhaps we’ll hear about it sooner than that.

One of the limiting factors in the performance of lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) is thermal management of the battery system. Batteries produce heat energy when they are charged or discharged. That energy must be removed, typically through conduction to a liquid cooled heat sink system. Excess heat can reduce a battery’s performance and limit its life. This is especially true as EVs increasingly turn toward fast charging.

At the interface between the battery and the cooling system, gaps and microscopic roughness exist, preventing efficient transfer of the heat energy. A better thermal connection between the battery cells or modules and the cooling heat sink is accomplished using a thermal interface material (TIM) that bridges the gaps and improves conductive heat transfer.

Liquid and Solid

There are two types of TIM products in use: a cure-in-place liquid or a pre-cured thermal pad (sometimes called a gap pad). The liquid gap filler is applied as a two-part system that is applied to one of the two surfaces. The battery and heat sink are then pressed together to reach a specific thickness. As the liquid cures, if forms a solid that fills in all of the gaps and surface micro-roughness. A gap pad is a precut solid material that is compliant enough to fill gaps and surface roughness as it is compressed between the battery and heatsink surfaces.

Lord Corporation was one of the first companies to develop thermal gels for the semiconductor industry. Now, it is applying that expertise in developing liquid TIM products for the EV battery industry. “When the need for improved thermal performance of battery packs arose from the EV push, we were able to leverage our technology to develop the CoolTherm thermal management materials we offer today,” Jim Greig, global business manager, electronic materials at LORD Corp., told Design News.

Filling Roughness

Liquid gap fillers flow into the gaps created by surface roughness and can be expected to provide coverage of the interface. “The performance benefits of (liquid) gap fillers versus the more traditional gap pad solutions are clear with better performance at a lower cost,” said Greig. “Our materials are different, which is what sets LORD apart in this space. Most automotive companies are used to mechanical solutions and this liquid ‘stuff’ is a clear deviation from the norm for them,” he told us. The company has written a white paper detailing the benefits of its liquid gap filler technology.

With the wide range of battery designs that are in use in EVs, the liquid gap filler also provides some flexibility and design freedom when designing the thermal management of a pack. “The type and functionality of the thermal management material really depends on the performance needs and the OEM design,” said Greig. “For example, a pouch battery has different characteristics from prismatic or cylindrical cells, and a module or pack application may also have different performance needs.”

Manufacturing

Another advantage that LORD claims for its liquid system is in the manufacturing of the battery pack. Thermal pads must be cut to shape, resulting in scrap material and a need of accurate placement. Liquids can be applied more easily, particularly with automated equipment. And they result in little or no waste. The company notes that rework is one of the only areas where liquid gap fillers don’t have an advantage—pads are easier to remove because they don’t conform to microscopic gaps as well, according to information in the LORD white paper.

LORD Corp. is a corporate sponsor of The Battery Show that takes place in Novi, Michigan on September 11-13. “LORD has been attending the Novi show since it started. We have had some great experiences and identified many new opportunities for our solutions,” noted Greig. “These events are really critical for the industry to come together to share new innovations and trends so the industry continues to transform the face of transportation,” he added. A presentation titled “Comparison of Gap Pads & Gap Fillers for Thermal Management of EVs” by LORD Corp. Principal Scientist Tim Fornes will take place at The Battery Show on Thursday, September 13.

One of the ongoing challenges in wearable technology is battery life that’s too short. The key to keeping the battery going may depend as much on current consumed while the device is powered up as it does on the battery’s endurance when it is in standby mode.

Your smart watches, earbuds and heart rate monitors draw current all the time, even when idle. This standby current, also called “quiescent” current, can be the biggest cause of the limited battery life of any portable gadget. IoT devices may endure even longer standby times than wearables, having to wake up once in a while to take a measurement and send it to the cloud. The longer you can extend idle mode by lowering the quiescent current consumption, the less often you have to charge the battery or replace it. Keeping your current consumption down by even a few µA can extend charge cycles by months.

Ricoh’s new quiescent current Low Dropout (LDO) regulator takes us one step closer to longer battery life. The Japanese electronics company’s 100 mA LDO regulator, dubbed the RP124, consumes only 0.3µA (at no-load). The RP124 also includes an integrated battery voltage monitor that helps preserve the battery.

At 0.3µA, the current consumption is on the lower end. But the real innovation lies in the voltage monitor. Normally battery charge is measured by way of an external resistor divider + MOSFET connected to an A/D converter. However, monitoring the charge this way causes excess current to be lost to ground. Ricoh gets around this with a built-in high-value resistor divider and voltage follower as a buffer. This way, the input impedance is raised, less current is lost overall, and the LDO regulator can continue to track the battery life.

The LDO regulator takes an input voltage of 1.7 to 5.5V and has 11 output versions, ranging from 1.2 to 3.6V. The LDO regulator also has an output enable pin. All of the features are integrated into a single chip with three external capacitors, including one for the battery monitor, allowing plenty of space to be saved on the circuit board.

In April last year, I took a look at some of the latest lithium battery research being published across the Advanced journal family. A little over a year later, research on battery technologies looks set to keep expanding, with many potential alternatives to lithium systems also under active investigation. It seems a good time to share some of the most recent work on these systems… But first, a quick picture of the motivation behind this massive, international effort:

Global energy requirements are rising rapidly. Every time you pull out your smartphone, whether it be to check the weather for your crops, to get an update on the bus schedule, or just to find out which celebrity was the most drunk last night, you’re contributing to that energy use. It’s generally agreed that staying connected is important, but the demand for certain raw materials is becoming unsustainable, particularly as changes in policy and in the way we use technology drive the shift from fossil fuels toward cleaner-running electrochemical systems. Current commercial battery technologies just don’t have the energy density – the energy produced per gram of material used – to keep up.

To solve the key problems of sustainable energy generation and storage (such as the very basic ones outlined in this TEDtalk), researchers are exploring new materials to be adopted as electrodes and electrolytes, as well as creating new functionalities such as flexibility or transparency for wearable or foldable devices.

The desire for higher energy and power densities has led to the investigation of solid electrolytes, which could help to get more out of the standard, high-capacity lithium technologies. Three types of solid electrolytes are currently being explored: polymers, sulfides, and oxides. Polymers are the easiest to work with, but have lower mechanical strength and ionic conductivity than sulfides and oxides. Solid electrolytes need to be processed into very thin films to maximize the current during charge/discharge, but it has proven tricky to achieve precise control during fabrication.

A team working across several different US institutes has created solid electrolyte membranes of β-Li3PS4 with a thickness of just 0.4 µm. These membranes are electrochemically compatible with metallic lithium anodes and don’t require the high processing temperatures typical of sulfide-based solid electrolytes. Their three-step method, highlighted on the cover of Advanced Energy Materials, involves the evaporation-induced, face-to-face stacked assembly of Li3PS4·2ACN (acetonitrile) nanoplates on a nickel substrate, producing a uniform film. Heating to over 180 °C removes the ACN, providing good ionic conductivity and converting the film to β-Li3PS4; applying 200 MPa then causes the films to fuse, increasing their density. The concentration of the precursors was found to govern the film thickness, providing an easy, solution-processable route to greater control over solid sulfide electrolyte membrane formation.

Tackling instead the problem of lithium dendrite formation (an explanation of this problem is provided here by Tsinghua’s Qiang Zhang), a group from China has devised what they call ‘zipper-like’ SEI films. Instead of suppressing stress-induced defects in the SEI layer – as most current methods attempt to do – these films are able to automatically repair cracks using a self-healing mechanism. In Advanced Energy Materials, the research team explains how they patterned the surface of the anode with ordered pits, leading to the formation of net-like SEI films, which reduced the polarization. This allowed the lithium ion flux to be more homogeneous and enhanced the performance during plating/stripping cycles.

The natural abundance of calcium attracted another group from China to look into rechargeable calcium-ion battery systems. Of the multivalent cations being explored, the reduction potential of calcium is the closest to that of lithium, and it displays a higher safety and fast electrochemical kinetics; however, calcium systems suffer very poor stability (surviving less than 50 cycles) and a low working voltage due to the sluggish diffusion of calcium from the standard organic electrolytes into the active materials.

Using expanded graphite electrodes – a material which allows the intercalation of Ca2+ ions rather than just plating and stripping from a metallic calcium electrode – they developed a system with a carbonate electrolyte and Ca(PF6)2. Their open access paper in Advanced Science tells how they achieved a specific capacity of 66 mAh g−1 at a current rate of 2C, with a high working voltage of 4.6 V. Critically, the discharge capacity of their calcium-ion battery remained at 62 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles (a retention of 94% at that point) – the most impressive stability so far for calcium systems.

The use of graphite as an intercalation electrode was also investigated by a team collaborating between Germany and Switzerland. They explored the mechanism of its use in sodium-ion battery systems, in particular, how it maintains such good stability despite the electrode material ‘breathing’ during cycling, and despite it apparently not forming any SEI layer – usually considered necessary to prevent continuous decomposition, but confirmed absent in this study. In their Advanced Energy Materials paper they clarify that, even with the electrode volume expanding and contracting by around 70–100%, it remains stable because graphite particles exfoliate from the surface to form crystalline platelets, but do not delaminate, avoiding the degradation normally observed with such large volume changes.

Western Australia could capitalise on the anticipated $2tn global lithium value chain by developing a local downstream sector, according to a new report commissioned by the Australian Association of Mining and Exploration Companies. Government support will be needed to get projects off the ground, but what are the potential challenges and opportunities?

The ongoing green energy revolution, driven by the Paris Agreement, is expected to boost the demand for lithium-ion batteries exponentially over the next decade. Western Australia is well placed to capitalise on this growing trend due to its lavish lithium reserves, according to the Australian Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC). By value, the region mines over 60% of the world’s supply of lithium.

A report commissioned by AMEC, entitled A lithium industry in Australia: A value chain analysis for downstreaming Australia’s lithium resources and compiled by business advisory firm Future Smart Strategies, notes that the $165bn global lithium value chain will grow to a ‘conservatively estimated’ $2tn by 2025.

AMEC estimates there is a two-year window before the global battery supply chain solidifies, giving Australia time to build downstream processing plants and even battery manufacturing facilities.

The potential for lithium processing in Australia
The opportunity for Australia lies not only in mining the concentrate lithium ore, as it currently does, but also in downstreaming processes such as refining it into ‘battery ready’ chemicals, assembling components into battery cells and trading the transfer of energy between storage devices to generate revenue, says report co-author Professor Ray Wills. Capitalising on this opportunity could create new jobs and revenue, he adds.

“It is crucial that action is taken quickly so Australia can take a share of the many new jobs, skilled and semi-skilled, in this $2trn value chain – an opportunity that would double Australia’s GDP from a single new industry sector,” he says.

Western Australia hosts several major lithium projects, including the Greenbushes lithium mine, the Mt Cattlin spodumene project and the Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project, which are all ramping up production to provide a strong supply of lithium hard rock concentrate.

Australia currently exports this concentrate, earning around $800 per ton, according to construction engineering firm Ausenco. Processing it into lithium chemicals could, however, boost the profit gained from export by three times, says Irena Ivanova, director of mineral processing and studies at the company.

“Conversion of the concentrate to the final lithium battery increases the profit value of the concentrate 500 times; currently this value exists for the countries we are exporting to,” she says.

The benefits of building a downstream processing industry extend beyond lithium, says AMEC CEO Warren Pearce, because Australia also has major mining projects for other key battery metals, such as graphite and nickel.

“As nickel is the largest base metal by mass in a lithium-ion battery, demand will follow growth for electric vehicles,” says Pearce, “This presents a new opportunity for nickel along with recent investments in nickel sulphide value adding in Western Australia.”

He refers to BHP Billiton’s Nickel West refinery, which is expected to start producing nickel sulphate next year. The firm has also said it wants to produce more cobalt for the battery sector, of which Australia currently produces only 3% of the mined supply.

Australia, Pearce says, has “pretty much the entire periodic table of minerals to be mined domestically at commercial quantities”. In addition to its mineral wealth, the country benefits from high quality standards, low sovereign risk and well-established transport networks to ports.

Competition from China in lithium processing

While the rewards for developing a downstream lithium processing industry could be extensive, the challenges in doing so are also significant.

Currently, Pearce says, the technology and know-how for material development and electro-chemical processing are tightly held by a group of international companies based in China, Japan and South Korea, with whom mining and mineral exploration companies negotiate separately. China already controls around 85% of the global supply of cobalt.

“This scattered response places Australia at a comparative disadvantage, as individually they lack the critical mass to drive investment a further step down the value chain,” he says, “The government has a role to step in and provide clear leadership to help companies attract domestic value-adding.”

This concentration of certain parts of the value chain in one country creates geopolitical risks and considerations for companies. Pearce refers to China’s dominance of the rare earths market since 2006 and how the country used that comparative advantage to leverage growth in key technology industries.

“There will be countries that will be looking for a source of supply that is outside of China,” he says. Nevertheless, Australia will find it difficult to compete with a behemoth such as China. Australia has undeniably higher labour costs than China and Korea and even South America, which has large reserves of lithium salt lakes that can be extracted at a lower cost, though with a higher environmental impact.

There is another concern: that South American lithium is likely to enter the market first, within the next two years.

“Internationally, battery producers are currently moving to secure the minerals they need to meet rising demand,” says Pearce. “This means we are witnessing deposits being bought in the ground, a move common to the oil and gas space, but unusual in the hard rock minerals industry.”

He adds that the government needs to move quickly to make the case for firms to invest in Australia instead.

The challenges of raising capital for lithium projects
Ivanova also believes that one of the main challenges for Australia lies in accessing capital. For various reasons, she says, raising capital to construct lithium projects is more difficult compared with gold, base metal and coal projects. Meanwhile, it appears Chinese companies find it easier to obtain funding.

“In comparison, there are currently nine reported lithium conversion plants being built by Chinese companies, these being predominantly in China,” she says. “Only two of these are lithium majors, with the other seven appearing to be newcomers to the lithium space.”

Furthermore, a lack of access to cheap electricity in Australia could be prohibitive, as could dealing with waste. For every ton of lithium carbonate produced, a plant will typically produce 2.5 tons of sodium sulphate and 12 tons of residue.

“The latter is predominantly used in laundry powder detergents but the market is not large in Australia and is reportedly decreasing,” Ivanova says. “Many projects are assuming no commercial value for the sodium sulphate as the rapid increase in lithium conversion plants suggests that it is expected to swamp the market, so there remains a challenge as to what can feasibly be done with the potentially large quantities of sodium sulphate waste.”

The government’s role in creating lithium leadership

Regulatory costs are one of the largest challenges in developing a downstream industry in Australia, according to Pearce. However, he says, the government can address this issue and move to support this new sector and it has already taken some steps in the right direction.

In May, the Western Australian State Government launched a taskforce to develop a lithium and energy materials strategy. The taskforce will report in November with recommendations about how the state should respond to the opportunities presented by battery minerals.

The state government has also announced provisional funding of $5.5m in the budget to support a bid to establish a New Energy Industry Cooperative Research Centre.

“This is a necessary first step,” says Pearce about the taskforce, but he calls on the government to support the development of the sector ways similar to what other countries have done, including offering substantial tax holidays, free electricity and water, and regulatory ease.

AMEC published a ‘Path Forward’ report that outlined recommendations for the federal and state governments to support the development of a downstream sector. They include establishing leadership, attracting investment, signing state agreements, investing in research and giving financial incentives.

Future prospects for lithium in Western Australia

“Whether Australia eventually has the entire battery value chain is a question that is hard to answer currently,” says Pearce. “However, it can move further down into the next stage, which will lead to higher returns.”

Progress is being made. In May, a new lithium refinery was announced for the south of Perth. The 50-50 joint venture between Australia’s Kidman Resources and Chilean company Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile will build a multi-million-dollar refinery Kwinana to service a proposed lithium mine in the northern Goldfields. The refinery will produce about 40,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide each year.

While Pearce says the announcement shows the “clear potential for further value adding to the Western Australian battery minerals industry”, he urges government, industry and the research sector to do more to capitalise on this unique, “once-in-a-generation opportunity”.