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peak","global-battery-arms-race-reaches-new-peak","article/global-battery-arms-race-reaches-new-peak",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":550,"content":560,"excerpt":708,"featured":50,"reporter":709,"_editable":713,"component":714,"seo_title":543,"categories":715,"visibility":722,"author_company":49,"featured_image":723,"seo_description":708,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":728,"formattedArticleDate":729},"d6eff513-ea8c-46ec-b130-94ce5066b93d","2017-11-24 00:00",[],[551],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":554},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":555,"image":556,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":557},"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":561,"content":562},"doc",[563,570,575,580,585,588,593,598,603,608,613,616,621,626,631,636,641,644,649,654,659,664,671,680,685,688,693,698,703],{"type":564,"attrs":565,"content":566},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[567],{"text":568,"type":569},"Lithium-ion battery megafactory capacity pipeline intensifies as China’s automakers lock in lithium supply, investors round on SQM, and Tesla inks new Shanghai plant","text",{"type":564,"attrs":571,"content":572},{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":569},"The lithium ion battery megafactory capacity in the pipeline for 2021 has reached a new peak this year after Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s tracker topped 153 GWh of new capacity announced in 2017.",{"type":564,"attrs":576,"content":577},{"textAlign":49},[578],{"text":579,"type":569},"This beats last year’s new capacity figure of 149GWh as battery manufacturers scramble to build additional cell capacity in time for the revolution in the electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage demand taking the new total at 372GWh.",{"type":564,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":569},"Considering that the global lithium ion cell output in 2014 when the tracker started was 50GWh, this is a step change for the industry. Ever since Tesla announced its Gigafactory project in February 2014, the world has been in the midst of a global battery arms race and has experienced the rise of new battery megafactories, many of which are an order of magnitude bigger than what was in place only a few years ago.",{"type":564,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":564,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":569},"The planning and construction of these multi-billion-dollar battery plants that can produce lithium ion cells in the gigawatt hours of capacity (GWh) – enough to supply anything from 100,000 to 500,000 EVs annually – has reached fever pitch in the last 18 months. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s Lithium ion Megafactory Tracker began with two super battery plants in the pipeline: Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada and Samsung SDI’s Xian plant in China.",{"type":564,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":569},"The most recent megafactories that have been added to the Benchmark tracker include Terra E Holding’s 34GWh plant in Germany that is presently at the planning stage as 17 of the country’s industrial groups seek to finalise Europe’s second battery plant and first megafactory above 10GWh.",{"type":564,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":569},"At present, LG Chem’s new cell plant in Poland remains Europe’s only cell manufacturing facility in the pipeline while Samsung SDI in Hungary and Daimler/Mercedes in Kamenz, Germany are expanding EV pack capacity. In addition to Terra E Holding’s, new megafactories in 2017 include Northvolt in Sweden and, most recently, Automotive Energy Supply Corp’s (AESC) 20GWh project in Zhenjiang, a city which sits on the Yangtze River banks, 250km northwest of Shanghai.",{"type":564,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":569},"China’s Great Wall Motors Company is looking to establish itself as a battery producer with a 20GWh cell plant as it plans to roll out a variety of pure EV models. Great Wall’s EV plan sparked an investment of A$28m ($22m) into Australian hard rock lithium developer, Pilbara Minerals, for 75,000 tpa of spodumene feedstock to produce battery grade lithium carbonate.",{"type":564,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":569},"The feedstock supply will be sourced from Stage 2 of Pilbara’s Pilgangoora project in Western Australia and could rise to 150,000 tpa. It is the first time an auto-maker has invested upstream into the raw materials segment of the supply chain and could set the tone for the next 5 years.",{"type":564,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":564,"attrs":617,"content":618},{"textAlign":49},[619],{"text":620,"type":569},"It is especially of interest as 32% of world-leading lithium producer, SQM SA, is now up for sale as shareholder PotashCorp looks to offload its stake for regulatory reasons over its purchase of fertiliser producer, Agrium.",{"type":564,"attrs":622,"content":623},{"textAlign":49},[624],{"text":625,"type":569},"There are a number of major industrial groups vying for the $4bn stake including China’s state chemical group, Sinochem, the fund that purchased battery producer AESC, GSR Capital, and lithium chemical convertor, Sichuan Tianqi.",{"type":564,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629],{"text":630,"type":569},"However, increasing government control over new lithium production in Chile has discouraged new investment Atacama meaning any sale may have to wait for the country’s elections in Q4. Any change in government could lead to the largest lithium rush that Chile has seen.",{"type":564,"attrs":632,"content":633},{"textAlign":49},[634],{"text":635,"type":569},"At present, investment into battery grade raw materials, lithium especially, has flowed from players in China’s supply chain, specifically lithium chemical convertors like Ganfeng Lithium and Sichuan Tianqi.",{"type":564,"attrs":637,"content":638},{"textAlign":49},[639],{"text":640,"type":569},"The move from Great Wall, one of China’s largest vehicle manufacturers, is significant not only for lithium but for the EV supply chain as it could spark non-Chinese manufacturers to invest in lithium, cobalt, nickel or graphite operations as competition for raw material intensifies.",{"type":564,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":564,"attrs":645,"content":646},{"textAlign":49},[647],{"text":648,"type":569},"“It highlights the strategic importance for the global automotive sector of securing access to large scale, consistent, high quality sources of battery raw materials,” said Ken Brinsden, Managing Director of Pilbara Minerals. “While this deal reflects the remarkable progress being made in China, we are also witnessing increasing interest from battery and automobile manufacturers outside of China looking to secure their future lithium requirements, in response to an increasingly global market shift towards electric vehicles and off-grid storage,” Brinsden explained.",{"type":564,"attrs":650,"content":651},{"textAlign":49},[652],{"text":653,"type":569},"Volkswagen Group’s public pursuit of up to 100,000 tonnes of cobalt in Q3 – the equivalent of last year’s total supply and more than double that of the battery grade material output in 2017 – highlighted the scaling difficulties faced by the raw material markets.",{"type":564,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":569},"It also pointed to the need for an attitude change for the large OEMs that are used to exerting ultimate power over their supply chains. The reality of today’s battery grade raw material markets is that the power lies with the producers and with prices at a 10-year high there is little desire or need to lock in long term deals.",{"type":564,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662],{"text":663,"type":569},"This is despite cathode and battery manufacturers seeking 3 to 5 year contracts. This is especially true when demands from OEMs are so high that shared capital risk in expanding the raw material and cathode sections of the supply chain must take place.",{"type":665,"attrs":666,"content":668},"heading",{"level":667,"textAlign":49},3,[669],{"text":670,"type":569},"Tesla in Shanghai: NCM or NCA?",{"type":564,"attrs":672,"content":673},{"textAlign":49},[674,676,678],{"text":675,"type":569},"As the ",{"text":677,"type":569},"Benchmark Quarterly Review",{"text":679,"type":569}," was going to press, Tesla reached an agreement with the Shanghai government to construct a new EV plant in China. While details were thin on the ground at the time, Benchmark anticipates this plant will lay the groundwork for a new Gigafactory-sized super battery plant of 35-50GWh of new cell capacity that is fully integrated with vehicle production.",{"type":564,"attrs":681,"content":682},{"textAlign":49},[683],{"text":684,"type":569},"The plant will be located inside Shanghai’s free trade zone and will be a 100% owned plant. While recent analysis suggests Tesla will be subject to China’s export tariff on vehicles, it is expected that the Silicon Valley producer will be making vehicles for the domestic market.",{"type":564,"attrs":686,"content":687},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":564,"attrs":689,"content":690},{"textAlign":49},[691],{"text":692,"type":569},"What would be of most interest to the lithium ion battery supply chain is whether Tesla is forced down the nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) cell chemistry route like most Chinese battery producers that are forced to adhere to minimum cell capacity requirements for next generation EVs.",{"type":564,"attrs":694,"content":695},{"textAlign":49},[696],{"text":697,"type":569},"While this does not rule out Tesla and Panasonic’s classic nickel-cobaltaluminium (NCA) chemistry, it does add extra impetus towards the NCM route which has been favoured over lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries primarily used in electric buses (e-buses).",{"type":564,"attrs":699,"content":700},{"textAlign":49},[701],{"text":702,"type":569},"Due to a shortfall in NCA batteries on the launch of Tesla’s Powerwall, its home utility storage device in 2015, the EV pioneer approached Samsung SDI to supply its prismatic NCM cells for the product line.",{"type":564,"attrs":704,"content":705},{"textAlign":49},[706],{"text":707,"type":569},"It will be an interesting watch to see if Tesla chooses a different chemistry for its future EVs as it prepares to launch a new electric truck in Q4 2017, a vehicle-type that would be ideal for NCM batteries. One thing is for certain, the lithium ion supply chain continues to revolve around China.","Lithium-ion battery megafactory capacity pipeline intensifies as China’s automakers lock in lithium supply, investors round on SQM, and Tesla inks new Shanghai plant The lithium ion battery megafactory capacity in the pipeline for 2021 has reached a new peak this year after Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s tracker topped 153 GWh of new capacity announced in 2017. […]",[710],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":711},{"job_title":555,"image":712,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},{"filename":557},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"d6eff513-ea8c-46ec-b130-94ce5066b93d\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[716,719],{"slug":717,"name":718},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":720,"name":721},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":724,"name":724,"focus":724,"title":724,"source":724,"filename":725,"copyright":724,"fieldtype":726,"meta_data":727,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/0c7015cb46/bm-screen-shot-2017-11-24-at-124228.png","asset",{"alt":724,"title":724,"source":724,"copyright":724},"Nov 24, 2017","24th November 2017",[],[],1782991852559]