POWER November 2020 - 6

Tesla, Mining Companies Look
for Advancements in Lithium
Technology
Advancements in battery technology are
critical to continuing growth in the energy
storage market, and energy industry
analysts say those advancements also
are needed to move e-mobility forward
and combat climate change. The transportation
sector accounts for the largest
share of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions,
just ahead of power generation, according
to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. Lithium-ion batteries have been
the product of choice for electric vehicle
(EV) manufacturers, and several groups
are working on improving current battery
technology, along with developing
new sources of low-cost, fast-charge
batteries. That includes the Vehicle Technologies
Office (VTO), part of the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) in the Office
of Energy Efficiency & Renewable
Energy. The VTO coordinates activities
with the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium
(USABC); the USABC in July
announced the award of a $2.4 million
contract to Worcester Polytechnic Institute
in Worcester, Massachusetts, to
lead a program to develop low-cost, fastcharge
batteries for EV applications.
" The lithium market is in its infancy.
It is going to explode to the upside, " Andrew
Bowering, founder, director, and financial
officer of American Lithium, told
POWER. " Just listen to [Tesla CEO] Elon
Musk today talk about the amount of energy
storage, and generation, required to
electrify the global transportation fleet.
The grid, and stationary power, is another
massive enterprise itself. Lithium
is going to be the primary component of
the electric global fleet. That's because
it's light, small, and sheds its outer electron
easily. Nothing replaces lithium in
our lifetime where mobility is required. "
Musk has poured money into battery
technology (Figure 1), with an eye toward
reducing the cost of his company's EVs.
Musk, speaking at Tesla's " Battery Day "
on Sept. 22, said a new generation of
EV batteries will be more powerful, will
last longer, and be half as expensive as
the company's current cells. Musk said
his company's new and larger cylindrical
cells will provide five times more energy,
six times more power, and 16% greater
driving range-though he said full production
is about three years away.
6
1. Tesla is looking at improvements in battery
technology for electric vehicles (EVs) in
order to reduce the cost of the company's signature
EVs. Courtesy: Tesla
" We do not have an affordable car.
That's something we will have in the
future. But we've got to get the cost of
batteries down, " Musk said. EV industry
researchers have said that price parity, or
the point at which EVs are equal in value
to internal combustion-powered vehicles,
is reached when battery packs cost
$100/kWh. EV consulting firm Cairn Energy
Research Advisors said that Tesla's
battery packs cost $156/kWh last year.
" New battery configurations by Tesla
and others are all going to be based on
lithium-ion for years to come, " said Bowering.
" Advancements in battery configurations
will affect capacity, lifespan,
reliability, and ultimately cost. These improvements
will drive investment in EVs
and electrification further. "
To that end, Musk at Battery Day said
Tesla would manufacture battery cells at
its plant in Brandenburg, Germany, what
Musk calls Tesla's Berlin facility, though
the plant is 30 miles from Berlin. " Yes,
we will be manufacturing cells in Berlin.
Yep, " Musk said on Battery Day. Analysts,
though, noted that Tesla's current
permit application to operate the facility
does not include cell manufacturing,
and those analysts also said the German
government likely would want to review
those plans.
A final decision on Tesla's revised permit
for the plant-where Tesla wants
to produce 500,000 EVs annually-is
expected in December. Musk said that
improvements in batteries would require
further technical breakthroughs, though
he has offered that reductions in the
cost of batteries (driven by production
improvements) would enable his company
to market a $25,000 EV, which he
has said is important to reach his target
of annual sales of 20 million vehicles.
www.powermag.com
The price is $10,000 to $15,000 below
the current average price of the leastexpensive
Tesla model, the Model 3. The
current timeline for manufacturing at the
Brandenburg plant calls for the first vehicles
to come off the assembly line in July
2021. Tesla on Sept. 24 said it would have
to start a new approval process for battery
production, and as of early October
no timeline for this application has been
made public.
Musk discussed a dry-coating process
in his September comments. That
process, developed by researchers at
Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Material
and Beam Technology IWS, coats
electrodes with a dry film instead of liquid
chemicals. The process saves energy
and eliminates toxic solvents. Maxwell
Technologies, a San Diego, Californiabased
company acquired by Tesla in early
2019 for $200 million, is working on a dry
electrode technology. Maxwell last year
said its electrode enables an energy density
of more than 300 Wh/kg in current
demonstration cells, and the company
has said it sees a path to more than 500
Wh/kg. Those levels would be a large
improvement over Tesla's current battery
cells, enabling longer range. Maxwell
last year said its technology would result
in a 10% to 20% cost reduction versus
state-of-the-art wet electrodes, while potentially
doubling battery life. Tesla, along
with partner Panasonic, expects to save
money, time, and factory space using its
subsidiary's technology.
Part of Tesla's cost savings would
come from producing lithium at a site
in Nevada near the company's so-called
Gigafactory. Musk told company shareholders
on Battery Day that Tesla has secured
rights to 10,000 acres in Nevada
where it would produce lithium from clay
deposits using a process developed by
the company. If successful, Tesla would
be the first company in the world to commercially
produce lithium from clay.
Lithium to date has been produced
either from brine, mostly found in South
America, or spodumene hard rock,
usually found in Australia. Nevada has
several lithium clay projects under development,
including the Thacker Pass project
from Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC),
which has been seeking federal permit
approval for more than a decade. LAC
also is developing the Cauchari-Olaroz
project in Jujuy, Argentina. Another NePOWER
| November 2020
http://www.powermag.com
POWER November 2020

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