As the world makes an attempt to transition away from fossil fuels over the subsequent a number of many years, crucial minerals will doubtless be among the many world’s most sought-after commodities. The US isn’t in an incredible place with respect to sources like cobalt, lithium, or graphite, all of that are wanted for electrical autos. China, in the meantime, controls 65 % of the provide chains for battery-ready lithium chemical substances and has 20 occasions extra battery manufacturing capability than the US.
That will take some time to vary in any vital manner, however an announcement final week from battery producer Redwood Materials is a small step in direction of night the scales. The firm can be constructing what it calls a “battery materials campus” close to Charleston, South Carolina that can finally be capable of energy greater than one million electrical autos per yr.
Redwood runs a mixture recycling/manufacturing operation: the corporate takes in batteries (from automobiles, laptops, telephones, tablets, and different electronics) which might be on the finish of their helpful life, then breaks them down and extracts metals like nickel, copper, cobalt, and lithium. They then rebuild these metals into cathode and anode merchandise, that are the basic elements of electrical automobile batteries (and account for many of their price).
Anode and cathode elements aren’t produced wherever within the US at current (or wherever in North America, for that matter). According to Redwood, corporations that make battery cells must supply them by way of a 50,000-mile world provide chain—and that’s not low cost. As a outcome, American battery producers will spend greater than $150 billion abroad on anode and cathode elements by 2030.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) President Biden signed into legislation this previous August goals to vary that. The act consists of provisions to assist the onshoring of crucial minerals mining, processing, and associated manufacturing. Mining corporations that produce aluminum, lithium, or graphite will qualify for a tax credit score equal to 10 % of the price of manufacturing for that mineral, and consumers who purchase electrical autos get tax credit if a sure proportion of the minerals within the automobiles have been extracted or processed within the US or free commerce associate nations.
The IRA was preceded by an announcement final May of $3.16 billion in authorities funding for home battery manufacturing and provide chains for battery supplies as a part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law handed in November 2021.
There’s no scarcity of incentives, then, for corporations like Redwood to get cranking on these batteries. The South Carolina plant can be constructed on 600 acres, price $3.5 billion, and create about 1,500 jobs. The firm says the operation received’t use any fossil gas, sourcing solely clear power, and its plant design and manufacturing course of will yield an 80 % discount within the CO2 emissions from producing these elements (as in comparison with the present Asia-based provide chain).
The facility is predicted to produce battery supplies to Ford, SK On, Toyota, Volvo, and Envision AESC crops in close by states. Redwood plans to interrupt floor on the venture within the first quarter of 2023, have its first recycling course of working by the top of subsequent yr, and finally produce 100 GWh of cathode and anode elements yearly.
Image Credit: Redwood Materials