Chinese battery giant CATL on Wednesday launched a fast charging lithium iron phosphate or LFP battery capable of running 400 km (248 miles) on a 10-minute charge. Mass production of the new battery called Shenxing is expected by the end of the year while electric vehicles equipped with Shenxing batteries will hit the market in […]
Battery Metals
Codelco turns to new CEO as debt piles up at top copper producer
Codelco will name its third CEO in a year in the coming weeks as Chile’s state-owned copper company struggles to turn around a slump in output and earnings. With debt at $19 billion and rising, the stakes are getting higher for bondholders. Production has hit the lowest in a quarter century, costs have surged and […]
Nearly 40% Of Tesla’s Battery Material Suppliers Come From China
We’ve written many times and discussed on our Cleantech Talk podcast the fact that much if not most of the EV battery minerals of the world are mined or at least processed in China. However, it’s also worth noting that China dominates EV sales. Of the 10 best selling plugin vehicles in the world, 8 […]
GM Shares Drop After Warning Battery Issues Are Slowing EV Production, Again
General Motors (GM) shares fell almost 6% on Thursday after the carmaker once again warned that production of its electric vehicle (EV) lineup is being slowed by issues assembling updated battery modules. At a conference, CFO Paul Jacobson repeated concerns that he and CEO Mary Barra had expressed when the company released its second quarter […]
Stacking cells in thin layers could result in higher-performance solid-state batteries
As yet, no portable energy storage technology is capable of combining high energy and fast charging with extensive safety. However, a solution could soon see the light of day: at Empa, Yaroslav Romanyuk and his team have developed a prototype solid-state stacked battery that could potentially combine all three benefits. The lithium-ion batteries used in today’s mobile […]
GM Shares Drop After Warning Battery Issues Are Slowing EV Production, Again
General Motors (GM) shares fell almost 6% on Thursday after the carmaker once again warned that production of its electric vehicle (EV) lineup is being slowed by issues assembling updated battery modules. At a conference, CFO Paul Jacobson repeated concerns that he and CEO Mary Barra had expressed when the company released its second quarter […]
Mining is growing rapidly – so are investor-state disputes
A recent study by Charles River Associates (CRA) outlines some worrying trends for global mining as the industry continues to expand and push into new markets. The Toronto-based consultants, specialising in economic litigation found disputes between governments and investors involving mineral assets are growing rapidly – with 60% of all arbitrations over the last fifty years […]
How solar-powered microbes turn CO2 into bioplastics
Cornell University researchers have developed a multimodal platform to image biohybrids with single-cell resolution, to better understand how they function and how they can be optimized for more efficient energy conversion. Microbe-semiconductor biohybrids merge the biosynthetic power of living systems with the ability of semiconductors to harvest light. These microorganisms use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into value-added […]
Liquid-Metal Battery Will Be on the Grid Next Year
Cost is a crucial variable for any battery that could serve as a viable option for renewable energy storage on the grid. An analysis by researchers at MIT has shown that energy storage would need to cost just US $20 per kilowatt-hour for the grid to be powered completely by wind and solar. A fully […]
The Flow Battery Code Is Starting To Crack: Red State Edition
Flow batteries almost sound too good to be true, but they are true. A flow battery leverages the ability of two specialized liquids to generate electricity when they meet each other, separated only by a thin membrane. Flow batteries can help bring more wind farms and solar arrays online, so it’s a bit of a […]
