The Race for More #Efficient
and #CostEffective #Battery Sources; (TSXV: $NBM.V) (OTC: $NBMFF) (NYSE: $GM)
(NASDAQ: $TSLA) (NYSE: $F) (XETRA: VOW.DE) @neo_battery @telsa @Ford @GM @VW
Point
Roberts WA, Delta, BC – June 23, 2021 - Investorideas.com, a leading
investor news resource covering cleantech and mining stocks releases a sector
snapshot on the race for more efficient and cost effective battery sources as
more car manufacturers enter the EV space and demand continues to grow.
Vancouver-based NEO Battery Materials
Ltd. (TSXV: NBM.V) (OTC:
NBMFF), a resource company focused on battery
materials and metals, intends to
become a lead player in the space as a silicon anode materials supplier to the
electric vehicle industry.
Read this article
featuring NEO in full at https://www.investorideas.com/News/2021/renewable-energy/06231Cost-Effective-Battery.asp
In a recent report from Reuters, it was announced
that the Biden administration will begin to emphasize battery recycling as part
of its electric-car plans, aiming to address supply issues. The recycling push
is the result of a 100-day review of gaps in the supply chain of key areas,
including metals used in batteries for EVs and consumer electronics, the report
said. The administration is seeking not only to expand EV adoption, but to also
create a more robust domestic supply chain for key materials.
Recycling is seen as a way to help achieve
those goals with less reliance on expanded domestic mining, which faces
regulatory hurdles and environmentalist opposition, the report said. The
administration is also researching ways to reduce metal usage in batteries,
according to the report.
Another solution is to find new,
inexpensive materials that allows the batteries to run longer and last longer.
Currently, the anode material is known to be the bottleneck of the battery due
to graphite’s limited capacity to store energy or lithium-ions.
Silicon, hence, is
recognized as the next material to forward the development of batteries as it
has a capacity more than 10 times than of graphite. However, silicon expands
during charging, which damages the anode and battery. Many approaches have been
discussed to counter this issue and to commercialize silicon anodes.
As the EV sector continues to grow, there
are many looking to solve the silicon issue such as Dr. Jong Hyeok Park, Chief
Scientific Advisor and Director of NEO
Battery Materials Ltd. (TSXV:
NBM)
(OTC:
NBMFF)
who recently announced that NEO’s silicon
(Si) nanocoating technology is proving to be highly effective in conventional
graphite/Si mixture anodes, overcoming a major barrier to the commercialization
of Si anodes in graphite anode systems. In the past week, this test was
conducted and validated by a well-established third-party laboratory in South
Korea. More detailed experiment conditions are as below:
1. Loading
mass: 6.5mg/cm2
2. Electrode
density: 1.1g/ cm3
3. Natural
graphite/Si ratio: 9:1
4. Charging
condition: 0.5C with CC/CV mode (NOT CC mode)
5. Voltage:
0.01V ~ 1.5V
NEO’s previous 100% Si nanoparticle-based
durability test results had confirmed that NEO’s proprietary nanocoating
technology stabilizes the Si material at long-term operating times required for
electric vehicles (EV) and various energy storage applications. These new
results further demonstrate the longevity and stability of NEO’s Si anode when
it is mixed with a conventional graphite-based anode. Introducing 10% of NEO’s
nanocoated silicon in a natural graphite anode allows a more uniform
solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) layer formation with minimal volume expansion
during cycling, and thus, more than two-times higher capacity retention is
obtained.
Dr. Park added, “NEO’s Si anode innovation breaks through the barriers that have
hindered the commercialization of Si anode materials in conventional
graphite-based batteries. Initially, we questioned if the nanocoating layer on
Si nanoparticles could be sustainable in conventional graphite powder, but this
test provides us a highly positive signal for the commercialization of our
patented nanocoating technology in silicon-graphite anodes. This indicates that
we may increase the Si contents in graphite systems without serious performance
degradation.”
Additionally, in
the past two weeks, NEO has signed several non-disclosure agreements with some
established players in the battery metals and materials industry. Discussions
pertain to the advancement of NEO’s silicon production and proprietary
nanocoating technology for silicon anodes. Due to reasons of confidentiality
and the competitive nature of the industry, all parties will remain
unidentified at this point in time.
Spencer Huh,
President and CEO of NEO commented, “This
is extremely welcome news as we are on an accelerated process to push our
corporate initiatives. NEO’s robust portfolio of properties, patents, and
personnel are currently producing considerable synergy, and we look forward and
are enthusiastic to advance to the next stage of our plans.”
At this time, no
further deal terms have been reached, nor has the Company entered into any
letters of intent, partnerships, advisory agreements, or any other form of
definitive agreement with these parties. As the Company’s discussions remain at
preliminary stages, there can be no assurance or guarantee that the Company
will enter into binding agreements.
General
Motors Co. (NYSE:
GM) recently announced that it will increase its
EV and AV investments from 2020 through 2025 to $35 billion, representing a 75
percent increase from its initial commitment announced prior to the pandemic.
The company’s enhanced commitment will
accelerate its transformative strategy to become the market leader in EVs in
North America; the global leader in battery and fuel cell technology through
its Ultium battery platform and HYDROTEC fuel cells; and through Cruise, be the
first to safely commercialize self-driving technology at scale.
“We are investing aggressively in a
comprehensive and highly-integrated plan to make sure that GM leads in all
aspects of the transformation to a more sustainable future,” said GM Chair and
CEO Mary Barra. “GM is targeting annual global EV sales of more than 1 million
by 2025, and we are increasing our investment to scale faster because we see
momentum building in the United States for electrification, along with customer
demand for our product portfolio.”
GM first shared its vision of a world with
zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion nearly four years ago. Key
factors changing the landscape include strong public reaction to the GMC HUMMER
EV and HUMMER EV SUV, the Cadillac LYRIQ and the Chevrolet Silverado electric
pickup; GM and dealer investments in the EV customer experience; public and
private investment in EV charging infrastructure; and the global policy
environment.
“There is a strong and growing conviction
among our employees, customers, dealers, suppliers, unions and investors, as
well as policymakers, that electric vehicles and self-driving technology are
the keys to a cleaner, safer world for all,” Barra said.
This announcement builds on GM’s initial
commitment announced in March 2020 to invest $20 billion from 2020 through
2025, including capital, engineering expenses and other development costs, to
accelerate its transition to EVs and AVs. In November 2020, the company
increased its planned investment over the same period to $27 billion.
These investments are enabled by GM’s
strong underlying business, including record EBIT-adjusted in the last three
quarters. GM now expects to deliver better-than-expected results in the second
quarter despite the industry-wide impact of the semiconductor shortage.
EV
favorite Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) recently
released
their new Model S Plaid, which has received its first official EPA rating with
a range of 348 miles on a single charge, but that’s for the bigger and less
efficient wheels.
The
EPA is slowly releasing the new ratings for the new versions of the updated
Tesla Model S.
Earlier
this week, they released the
new rating for the updated 2021 Model S Long Range, which received a
120 MPGe (highway and city driving combined) and a range of 405 miles on a
single charge.
The
range was lower than Tesla had originally announced, but the efficiency did
improve compared to the previous version of the Model S Long Range trim. Though
the EPA has released its first rating for the new Model S Plaid, this was only
for the version with 21-inch wheels and the EPA has yet to release the range
for the Model S Plaid with 19-inch wheels, but Tesla has been guiding a range
of 390 miles.
Tesla
has been focusing on efficiency since it directly affects battery supply and
enables them to make more electric vehicles with the same amount of batteries.
Today, there are 25,000 Tesla Superchargers around the world, and with the
Model S Plaid adopting a new powertrain, Tesla was able to re-design the
battery to take advantage of the third-gen 250-kW Supercharger. Despite Tesla
still using the 18650 form-factor cylindrical battery cells, these now have
improved chemistry to deliver higher performance and durability. (This is the
fourth major chemistry improvement since the first Model S.) With its newest
100-kWh battery pack, Tesla claims the Plaid can recover
187 miles of driving range in 15 minutes of charging at a V3 Supercharger.
Ford
Motor Company
(NYSE:F) recently
joined
General Motors with upbeat earnings guidance and sees strong reservations for
critical new vehicles including its first electric truck. The No. 2 U.S. auto
giant said
that
it expects adjusted pretax earnings for the second quarter to surpass its own
expectations and be "significantly better" than a year ago.
That's despite the semiconductor shortage,
which Ford said April 28 would halve its planned Q2 production and reduce
full-year adjusted EBIT to $5.5 billion-$6.5 billion.Ford will report for Q2
and offer an outlook for the rest of the year on July 28.
Recently Ford touted 100,000 reservations
for the F-150 Lightning, its first all-electric pickup truck and Tesla
Cybertruck rival. That's up from 20,000 reported May 20 after a launch event,
and 70,000 on May 26.
Meanwhile, its new compact Maverick truck
has 36,000 reservations, just a week after unveiling. Ford also reported 20,000
reservations for the all-electric E-Transit commercial van and 190,000 for the
new, full-size Bronco SUV.
Ford also recently
announced
acquiring Electriphi, a California-based provider of charging management and
fleet monitoring software for electric vehicles. Electriphi’s team and services
will be integrated into Ford Pro – a new global business within Ford committed
to commercial customer productivity and to developing the most advanced
charging and energy management experiences.
While more commercial vehicle customers are
considering all-electric vehicles, charging management remains a hurdle to mass
adoption. Ford Pro plans on leveraging its leadership position in the
commercial vehicle market, its vehicle offerings and Electriphi’s technology to
help customers with this transition.
“As commercial customers add electric
vehicles to their fleets, they want depot charging options to make sure they’re
powered up and ready to go to work every day,” said Ford Pro CEO, Ted Cannis.
“With Electriphi’s existing advanced technology IP in the Ford Pro electric
vehicles and services portfolio, we will enhance the experience for commercial
customers and be a single- source solution for fleet-depot charging.”
“Customers have been clear –
electrification of their fleets is inevitable, with significant economic and
sustainability benefits. They now need solutions that enable a seamless
transition to electric vehicles,” said Electriphi CEO and co-founder, Muffi
Ghadiali. “Our synergies with Ford Pro will supercharge this transition. We’ll delight
customers by helping them reap the benefits of electrification, so they can
focus on what matters most – running their businesses effectively.”
Volkswagen
AG (XETRA:VOW.DE) announced
earlier in June
that it is participating, with a contribution of US$620 million (about €500
million), in a financing round of its Swedish battery partner Northvolt AB with
a total volume of US$2.75 billion. The Group will thus maintain its stake in
the company at about 20 percent. The funds are to be used for capacity
expansion in the fields of production, recycling and research and development.
Among other activities, Northvolt intends to expand the capacity of its
Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, Northern Sweden from 40 GWh to 60 GWh
per year, in order to meet higher demand from customers.
Arno Antlitz, Group Board Member for
Finance and IT said, “With this investment, we are strengthening our strategic
partnership with Northvolt as a supplier of sustainable battery cells which are
produced using renewable energy and are comprehensively recyclable.”
Thomas Schmall, Group Board Member for
Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components stated, “Batteries are one of
the key success factors in our unprecedented electric offensive. In the major
area of green battery cells, we are assuming a pioneering role in Germany and
Europe together.”
Volkswagen had already invested about €900
million in Northvolt in June 2019, acquiring about 20 percent of the shares in
the company as well as a seat on the Board of Directors. The production of
Volkswagen premium cells is to be concentrated at Skellefteå in cooperation
with Northvolt. Production of these cells is due to start in 2023 and the
annual capacity intended for Volkswagen is to be built up step-by-step to as
much as 40 GWh.
The second Volkswagen gigafactory is located
in Salzgitter and will produce the standard cell for the volume segment from
2025. It is also expected to reach an annual production volume of up to 40 GWh.
Both gigafactories are to be operated using electric power from renewable
energy sources.
All in all, Volkswagen expects to
commission six cell factories in Europe by 2030 together with its partners with
a view to safeguarding the ramp-up of electric vehicle production. After
Skellefteå and Salzgitter, possible locations and partners for the next cell
factories are already being considered.
As the production race rages on from EV
automakers trying to meet current consumer demand, advancement in battery
efficiency, battery recycling and battery production could see a major boom
which is creating new challenges as well as opportunities for companies to
solve this growing battery dilemma.
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