Car manufactures are aiming at reducing the amount of cobalt in lithium batteries

Here is an interesting article from Bloomberg for those of you who follow Electrical Vehicle material supply chain and lithium battery technology

Hype Meets Reality as Electric Car Dreams Run Into Metal Crunch

By Elisabeth Behrmann, Jack Farchy and Sam Dodge

January 11, 2018

 

When BMW AG revealed it was designing electric versions of its X3 SUV and Mini, the going rate for 21 kilograms of cobalt—the amount of the metal needed to power typical car batteries—was under $600. Only 16 months later, the price tag is approaching $1,700 and climbing by the day. For carmakers vying to fill their fleets with electric vehicles, the spike has been a rude awakening as to how much their success is riding on the scarce silvery-blue mineral found predominantly in one of the world’s most corrupt and underdeveloped countries.

If each of the billion cars on the road were replaced today with a Tesla Model X, 14 million tonnes of cobalt would be needed—twice global reserves. Even a more realistic scenario for people to drive 30 million electric cars by 2030 requires output to be more than trebled, according to a study commissioned by Glencore from commodity analysts CRU Group.

Full article (LINK)

BMW News from Detroit Car Show : BMW aims for half-million electric vehicles by 2019, shows off X2 at Detroit auto show


The Bloomberg article focuses on BMW technology but presumably this game of reducing cobalt is followed by all car manufactures. Especially interesting is the comparison on how much cobalt is in each cathode technology. The article also give a good overview on the supply issues for cobalt.

Amount of cobalt in lithium battery cathode materials and the BMW roadmap moving to materials with lee amount of cobalt. (Screen dump from the Bloomberg article)

 

Nano One ready for cobalt free HVS cathode material for lithium ion batteries

Nobody should have missed the current expected boom for electrical vehicles (EVs). However, the high energy, cobalt containing batteries for these cars can possibly not be supplied at a low cost due to high demand and insufficient supply chain, as well as ethical concern in mining. That is why many researchers around the world are focusing on developing technology that is so called "cobalt free". Just now Nano One, a Canadian company has announced recent success with their cobalt free High Voltage Spinel (HVS) cathode material for lithium ion batteries

HVS has been tested with lithium, graphite and lithium titanium oxide anodes (LTO) and consists of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) cathode, which according to preliminary cell data shown below indicates increased power for Cobalt Free, High Voltage Spinel made with the Nano One process.

Initial discharge curves showing improved performance of High Voltage Spinel (LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄) using Nano One’s advanced process. [Nano One press release LINK]

Please find details in the press release below or visit www.nanoone.ca for more.

Nano One Successfully Completes High Voltage Spinel Project Vancouver, B.C., January 11, 2018: Dr. Stephen Campbell, Principal Scientist at Nano One, today announced that Nano One has successfully completed an 18 month project developing cobalt free High Voltage Spinel (HVS) cathode material for lithium ion batteries, with the support of the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP). HVS is suited to fast charging and high power applications and is a candidate cathode material in next generation solid state lithium ion batteries for automotive, consumer electronics and energy storage applications.