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heavyweights cannot make 811 stick","koreas-heavyweights-cannot-make-811-stick","article/koreas-heavyweights-cannot-make-811-stick",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":692,"featured":50,"reporter":693,"_editable":697,"component":698,"seo_title":553,"categories":699,"visibility":706,"author_company":49,"featured_image":707,"seo_description":692,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":712,"formattedArticleDate":713},"07f868f8-d6a5-49e9-b5c1-819b92e3a3ac","2018-10-17 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"south-korea","South Korea",[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",[576,583,588,593,600,605,610,615,620,629,634,641,646,652,657,662,667,672,677,682,687],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"By Caspar Rawles","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":582},"Back in 2017 two South Korean battery heavyweights, LG Chem and SK Innovation, made bold claims they would be able to introduce NCM 811 cathode far sooner than many in the industry expected, both outlining plans for commercial production in H2 2018.",{"type":577,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":582},"In Q3 2018, both companies changed the timescales for these plans, pushing their anticipated introduction of the technology into 2019. LG Chem intend to release NCM 811 technology in cylindrical cells but only for use in energy storage systems (ESS) such as home storage and electric buses.",{"type":577,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596,598],{"text":597,"type":582},"Benchmark ",{"text":599,"type":582},"sees this as a small-scale introduction to test the technology. Even with this early-stage commercial testing, NCM 811 will require further development in pouch and prismatic cells to meet the EV industry’s preferred format. For those of us who have been following the electric vehicle (EV) revolution closely you will know that the rising cost of cobalt has been one of the key areas of focus for the industry.",{"type":577,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":582},"This, coupled with serious fears over security of supply, from a supply chain dominated by the Democratic Republic of Congo, has led the industry to look at reducing its cobalt dependency in lithium ion cells. With the EV industry honed in on nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode technology this is the battleground for lowering cobalt use, and in turn relying more heavily on nickel.",{"type":577,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":582},"When NCM technology was first introduced to the industry the constituent parts were in even ratios; NCM 111 (1 part nickel, 1 cobalt and 1 manganese). As the industry has moved towards advanced lithium ion batteries, this ratio has changed primarily to NCM 523 (5 nickel, 2 cobalt, 3 manganese) and now NCM 622 is in commercial use.",{"type":577,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":582},"This reduction in cobalt (and increase in nickel) is commonly termed substitution by the industry. Alongside the raw material savings – nickel is cheaper than cobalt – the move towards 622 has also brought with it increases in energy density. This crudely translates to battery packs with an increased range, or battery packs shrinking but maintaining their range – both favourable traits to the EV industry.",{"type":577,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":582},"With the introduction of 622 and a persistently rising cobalt price, the industry has been focused on developing the holy grail of NCM cathode EV technology: NCM 811. The lowest cobalt, highest energy density variant we are likely see in an EV. We are still some time away from seeing a material impact on the cobalt supply chain from the introduction of 811.",{"type":577,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623,625,627],{"text":624,"type":582},"We anticipate seeing the first impact from developments in China from 2020 onwards and then widespread international adoption from 2021. NCM 811 technology is in use today in other applications, but we have not seen a global impact on cobalt demand. The delay of the introduction of NCM 811 technology, as shown by LG Chem and SK Innovation, is no surprise to ",{"text":626,"type":582},"Benchmark",{"text":628,"type":582},".",{"type":577,"attrs":630,"content":631},{"textAlign":49},[632],{"text":633,"type":582},"For some time now we have been saying that these challenges are significant and will take longer than expected to overcome.",{"type":635,"attrs":636,"content":638},"heading",{"level":637,"textAlign":49},3,[639],{"text":640,"type":582},"The challenges of moving to NCM 811",{"type":577,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":582},"But why the delay? 523 and 622 variants were introduced quite swiftly. There are a number of engineering and economic challenges associated with producing NCM 811.",{"type":635,"attrs":647,"content":649},{"level":648,"textAlign":49},6,[650],{"text":651,"type":582},"Life cycle",{"type":577,"attrs":653,"content":654},{"textAlign":49},[655],{"text":656,"type":582},"EV manufacturers will offer a warranty on new vehicles sold. While warranties will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer the ballpark industry standard for the battery pack will be an 8-year warranty to maintain 80% of original capacity. By reducing the amount of cobalt in the cell the wear and tear on the active cathode materials increases, meaning that the cells might not last long enough to fulfil the warranty requirements.",{"type":577,"attrs":658,"content":659},{"textAlign":49},[660],{"text":661,"type":582},"Of course, there would be significant costs to manufacturers if they had to replace cells or packs for customers under warranty on a large scale. Some of this increased wear and tear can be managed by chemical doping, but this increases production costs and still doesn’t mitigate all of the issues. Only when the lifecycle question is truly overcome will manufacturers be happy to place these cells in their battery packs.",{"type":635,"attrs":663,"content":664},{"level":648,"textAlign":49},[665],{"text":666,"type":582},"Cost",{"type":577,"attrs":668,"content":669},{"textAlign":49},[670],{"text":671,"type":582},"On the face of it, there are some significant cost savings by replacing nickel for cobalt in the cells (the Benchmark Minerals Cobalt Battery Metal Price in August averaged $74,400/tonne, whereas the LME cash settled nickel for August averaged $13,429/tonne). In some of the stages of NCM 811 production there is a requirement for an inert environment, this is more challenging and costly than earlier formulations, and requires a specific production line for 811.",{"type":577,"attrs":673,"content":674},{"textAlign":49},[675],{"text":676,"type":582},"Additionally, cell manufacturers are unlikely to take capacity away from 523 or 622 lines by retooling. It is likely they would need to either expand current facilities or build a new factory in order to produce 811 cells, which increases capital expenditure requirements.",{"type":635,"attrs":678,"content":679},{"level":648,"textAlign":49},[680],{"text":681,"type":582},"Safety and legal framework",{"type":577,"attrs":683,"content":684},{"textAlign":49},[685],{"text":686,"type":582},"As the amount of cobalt in the cell reduces so does thermal stability. Thermal runaway will affect the cell at lower temperatures, which is when the cell can no longer cool itself and potentially combust.  Despite lithium ion being a very stable technology there are obvious safety concerns (think Samsung and the Galaxy Note 7) around this.",{"type":577,"attrs":688,"content":689},{"textAlign":49},[690],{"text":691,"type":582},"Only when OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are satisfied this has been overcome will these cells be used in EVs. Safety issues will also increase costs as there will the need for more advanced thermal management technology at the pack level. Finally, with OEMs pushing cell manufactures to reduce costs (and therefore cobalt) a legal framework needs to be developed to establish responsibility. Is it the OEM who has sold the EV to market, or is it the cell manufacturer, if pack fails at the cell level? These discussions are ongoing and will take time to be resolved.","By Caspar Rawles Back in 2017 two South Korean battery heavyweights, LG Chem and SK Innovation, made bold claims they would be able to introduce NCM 811 cathode far sooner than many in the industry expected, both outlining plans for commercial production in H2 2018. In Q3 2018, both companies changed the timescales for these […]",[694],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":695},{"job_title":568,"image":696,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"07f868f8-d6a5-49e9-b5c1-819b92e3a3ac\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[700,703],{"slug":701,"name":702},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":704,"name":705},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":708,"name":708,"focus":708,"title":708,"source":708,"filename":709,"copyright":708,"fieldtype":710,"meta_data":711,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/9fa0db88eb/bm-screen-shot-2018-06-15-at-114404.png","asset",{"alt":708,"title":708,"source":708,"copyright":708},"Oct 17, 2018","17th October 2018",[],[],1792773943637]