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automotive ‘battery shortage’ is all about quality not quantity","europes-automotive-battery-shortage-is-all-about-quality-not-quantity","article/europes-automotive-battery-shortage-is-all-about-quality-not-quantity",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":688,"featured":50,"reporter":689,"_editable":693,"component":694,"seo_title":553,"categories":695,"visibility":702,"author_company":49,"featured_image":703,"seo_description":688,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":708,"formattedArticleDate":709},"37cfb869-cb9c-40cd-b898-0f41d3eef303","2020-02-19 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"europe","Europe",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":570},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,588,593,598,605,610,615,620,625,630,635,640,645,650,653,658,670,678,683],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"In recent weeks, the industry has seen reports of major auto companies facing lithium ion battery shortages which is having a direct impact on production schedules for their electric vehicles (EVs).","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":582},"Firstly, Daimler AG was reported to have halved its production targets to 30,000 in 2020 for its Mercedes-Benz EQC electric vehicle (EV), having allegedly only produced 7,000 in 2019 far below the target of 25,000.",{"type":577,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":582},"These reports were swiftly followed by similar statements related to Audi, and that production of its E-Tron was being hampered by a shortfall of “battery parts” – namely battery cells – in its Brussels manufacturing plant.",{"type":577,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":582},"Jaguar Land Rover was the third company reported to be suffering from a battery cell shortage, with news that it would halt the production of its I-Pace EV in Graz, Austria, for a week due to insufficient battery cell supply.",{"type":599,"attrs":600,"content":602},"heading",{"level":601,"textAlign":49},6,[603],{"text":604,"type":582},"‘Only 31% of lithium ion battery output is Tier 1 in 2024’",{"type":577,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":582},"Although there is not a systemic battery cell shortage in the supply chain, for some incumbent producers ramping production at newly commissioned battery cell plants – colloquially known as battery megafactories or gigafactories – can be challenging.",{"type":577,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":582},"These batteryplants and the speed at which they ramp is key for the supply chain to meet predetermined volumes in supply contracts with OEMs. For inexperienced electric vehicle (EV) battery producers, the issues are magnified especially when ramping up from relatively low volumes to double-digit gigawatt (GWh) production capacity.",{"type":577,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":582},"As a result, sourcing lithium ion cells has become more challenging for automakers due to the limited number of Tier 1 producers, as assessed by Benchmark Minerals, who can meet their strict quality standards, while producing the volume needed to fulfil their demand.",{"type":577,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":582},"Of the 1,525.4 GWh of capacity expected to be online by end-2024, only 31% or 468 GWh is qualified as Tier 1 standard (Data: Benchmark’s Lithium ion Battery Megafactory Assessment, January 2020).",{"type":577,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":582},"This equates to approximately 9 million (m) EVs, however, this also assumes a theoretical 100% utilisation rate, which is not attainable in practice, bringing the likely real-world number down to 5.5m to 6.5m EVs.",{"type":577,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":582},"Volkswagen Group (VW), for example, has publicly stated that wants to produce 1m EVs by 2023 and 1.5m vehicles in 2025. To produce 1.5m electric vehicles with 55 kWh battery packs, would need over 80 GWh of battery capacity annually.",{"type":577,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":582},"Last year, only 172.2GWh of capacity was of Tier 1 scale. Needless to say, the supply chain needs to ramp up considerably in the 2020s to meet EV manufacturer targets.",{"type":577,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":582},"As things stand, by 2030, still only 31% of total lithium ion battery capacity is expected to be qualified as Benchmark’s Tier 1 battery cell category.",{"type":577,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":582},"And this is assuming that the supply chain will be in place to support such huge increases from last year’s total battery cell capacity of 455.1GWh for which investment is severely lacking at present.",{"type":577,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":577,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":582},"For Europe’s auto OEMs, the prospect of a battery cell shortage is particularly concerning and the need to ramp up cell capacity on the continent is more pressing in light of new emissions targets.",{"type":577,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"textAlign":49},[661,663,665,667,668],{"text":662,"type":582},"This year European CO",{"text":664,"type":582},"2 ",{"text":666,"type":582},"emission targets are being phased in, which will be fully implemented in 2021. The target is for an OEM’s passenger car fleet average to target 95 grams of CO",{"text":664,"type":582},{"text":669,"type":582},"emissions per kilometre.",{"type":577,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673,675,676],{"text":674,"type":582},"The potential fine is €95 per gram of CO",{"text":664,"type":582},{"text":677,"type":582},"over this limit, multiplied by an OEM’s European vehicle sales in that year.",{"type":577,"attrs":679,"content":680},{"textAlign":49},[681],{"text":682,"type":582},"Many of Europe’s OEMs are therefore facing the prospect of multi-billion euro fines, further incentivising the buildout of Europe’s tier 1 supply chain.",{"type":577,"attrs":684,"content":685},{"textAlign":49},[686],{"text":687,"type":582},"Battery megafactory capacity in Europe – which now has 14 megafactories in the pipeline with 359 GWh of capacity for 2029 – is growing in pace to meet the expected demand of OEMs looking to lower their emissions. OEMs will need to see an increase in the quantity of quality battery cell production to successfully meet their targets.","In recent weeks, the industry has seen reports of major auto companies facing lithium ion battery shortages which is having a direct impact on production schedules for their electric vehicles (EVs). Firstly, Daimler AG was reported to have halved its production targets to 30,000 in 2020 for its Mercedes-Benz EQC electric vehicle (EV), having allegedly […]",[690],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":691},{"job_title":568,"image":692,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"37cfb869-cb9c-40cd-b898-0f41d3eef303\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[696,699],{"slug":697,"name":698},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":700,"name":701},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":704,"name":704,"focus":704,"title":704,"source":704,"filename":705,"copyright":704,"fieldtype":706,"meta_data":707,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/1dd9003775/bm-istock-813733522.jpg","asset",{"alt":704,"title":704,"source":704,"copyright":704},"Feb 19, 2020","19th February 2020",[],[],1792756398463]