Honda has entered into a strategic partnership with the Japanese trading company Hanwa to ensure stable procurement of battery materials required for its longer-term electric offensive. The agreement centres around nickel, cobalt and lithium in particular.
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According to media reports, during German Chancellor Scholz’s visit to Canada, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz signed agreements with the Canadian government to secure access to crucial battery raw materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt.
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Tesla has signed contracts worth around US$5 billion to buy materials for its batteries from nickel-processing companies in Indonesia, according to a senior Indonesian cabinet minister.
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Ford has confirmed it is currently negotiating several partnerships to secure most of the nickel it needs until 2026 and beyond. Ford has also signed several important contracts for the procurement of lithium.
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The Swedish industrial group Epiroc has received a major order from Glencore for battery-electric equipment for a nickel and copper mine in Canada. The mine is scheduled to come on stream in 2024.
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The BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) joint venture has just established a closed cycle recycling operation in China for the reuse of the raw materials nickel, lithium and cobalt from high-voltage batteries. Compared to the use of newly mined material, CO2 emissions are to be reduced by 70 per cent.
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Tesla lists all its direct suppliers of battery materials for the first time in its current sustainability report. In addition to already known contracts for supplies of nickel, lithium and cobalt, it is now officially confirmed for the first time that Tesla has concluded a long-term supply contract for nickel with the mining company Vale.
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CATL’s recycling subsidiary Brunp has entered into a partnership with Indonesian companies Antam and IBI. CATL wants to invest the equivalent of almost 5.5 billion euros in the Indonesia. The agreement focuses on nickel mining and processing, battery materials, battery manufacturing and battery recycling.
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US President Joe Biden is applying the federal Korean War-era Defense Production Act to prioritise domestic production of raw materials needed to make batteries for electric vehicles.
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Budding British battery cell manufacturer Britishvolt has agreed to set up a joint venture with VKTR, part of the Indonesian conglomerate Bakrie & Brothers. A memorandum of understanding initially provides for the construction of a nickel sulphate plant in Indonesia.
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The Swedish battery cell manufacturer Northvolt has concluded a multi-year agreement with the mining company Vale Canada for the supply of low-carbon nickel products.
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Volkswagen has concluded two memoranda of understanding with Huayou Cobalt and the Tsingshan Group in China to secure access to essential battery raw materials. The three companies are planning two joint ventures.
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The Volkswagen Group has joined the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA). The initiative works to establish strict standards for the responsible mining of raw materials.
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The mining group Eramet and the environmental services group Suez have presented plans to build a recycling factory for electric car batteries in France by 2024. Later, the material extracted there will also be processed on-site.
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The EU Parliament has now adopted its position on new regulations for batteries’ entire product life cycle. The new regulation means that negotiations with EU governments can begin.
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Tesla has concluded another supply contract for nickel. The company now agreed with Talon Metals Corp. to supply at least 75,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate from the US state of Minnesota over a period of six years.
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The Canadian battery recycler Li-Cycle has concluded a still non-binding memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s LG Chem and its battery division LG Energy Solution for the supply of scrap from battery production and complete lithium-ion batteries for recycling as well as for the purchase of nickel.
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The Canadian company First Cobalt wants to build North America’s first factory complex for the production of battery materials specifically for electric vehicles. As part of the realignment, First Cobalt is renaming itself Electra Battery Materials.
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Tesla has concluded another supply contract for nickel. Tesla has agreed to purchase around 42,000 tonnes of nickel from New Caledonia as part of a multi-year contract with the commodities company Prony Resources.
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The US American battery startup Solid Power has been awarded up to $12.5 Million to develop nickel- and cobalt-free solid-state battery cells. Additionally, the company has unveiled cell safety and performance data.
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The commodities group BHP and the Toyota-Panasonic joint venture Prime Planet Energy & Solutions have agreed on a memorandum of understanding on the supply of nickel. The material is to come from BHP’s new production facility in Western Australia.
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Ford and Redwood Materials are forming a strategic partnership to drive the recycling of electric vehicle batteries in the US and create a closed battery loop. Ford has also invested 50 million US dollars in Redwood.
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South Korean company Posco has started producing high-purity nickel for electric car battery cells. The factory in Gwangyang is expected to reach an annual nickel production of 20,000 tons by 2023, enough for 500,000 electric vehicles.
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LG Energy Solution has concluded a binding long-term purchase agreement with Australian Mines for nickel and cobalt. The battery manufacturer thus secures access to 71,000 tonnes of nickel and 7,000 tonnes of cobalt for six years from the end of 2024.
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During Tesla’s conference call in the context of the latest quarterly figures, there were some interesting hints about the future direction of battery cells: Statements by Elon Musk indicate that Tesla wants to rely on only two different battery types in the future.
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Tesla has selected raw materials company BHP to supply nickel from Western Australia. And: Tesla has sold the ultracapacitor business of Maxwell Technologies, which it acquired in 2019, to UCAP Power.
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The Japanese raw materials company Sumitomo Metal Mining has announced its intention to invest 47 billion yen (about 358 million euros) in expanding its production capacities for cathode materials. The company cites the car industry’s growing demand for batteries as the reason.
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Samsung SDI has increased the nickel content in the cathodes of its battery cells with NCA (nickel-cobalt-aluminium oxide) chemistry for electric cars. This should not only increase the energy density, but also reduce the costs compared to cells with a higher cobalt content.
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The South Korean steel company Posco wants to set up a recycling business for lithium-ion batteries from electric cars together with the Chinese company Huayou Cobalt. The partners have already established a 65:35 joint venture called Posco Hy Clean Metal.
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Ultium Cells, the battery cell joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution, has partnered with Li-Cycle to recycle “up to 100 per cent” of material waste from battery cell manufacturing in the future.
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