The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supplies most of the world’s cobalt, but exporting semi-finished or finished products rather than raw materials would better help the country capture the value of the metal used in high power lithium-ion batteries.
China has once again been ranked top for involvement in the global lithium-ion battery supply chain by BloombergNEF, but for the first time the US has come in second amid a policy rush to support the domestic industry.
Lithium battery recycling company Li-Cycle is planning its fourth facility in North America, the company said, as it made its first financial results release since listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in August.
Solar and solar-plus-storage systems will be installed at two nickel mines in Western Australia for BHP, a supplier to Tesla, while a Rio Tinto ilmenite mine in Madagascar will be powered by a solar-wind-storage hybrid plant.
Tesla has reported more than 200% year-on-year increases in both solar and energy storage deployments for the second quarter of this year, during which time the company also produced and delivered more than 200,000 vehicles.
The stationary energy storage system (ESS) industry will be a significant source of lithium-ion batteries that can be recycled and reused, the head of Finnish state-owned energy company Fortum’s battery business line has said.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm spoke of the urgent need to create an advanced battery manufacturing value chain at a roundtable event with representatives of industry. Here are some of the key points and takeaways.
Lack of industrial policy and strategy and vulnerability to supply chain disruption are among the key things holding back the US’ position in global battery manufacturing.
