Rivian Adventure Network charging stations revealed with higher capacity than expected

The specs of the Rivian Adventure Network, the electric pickup truck startup’s upcoming charging network, have been revealed with a higher capacity than expected.

more…

The post Rivian Adventure Network charging stations revealed with higher capacity than expected appeared first on Electrek.


Source: Charge Forward

JB Straubel’s Redwood Materials inks recycling deal with Nissan’s battery supplier

Nissan Leaf Battery Pack

Redwood Materials, the battery recycling venture founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, has signed an agreement to recycle scrap and defective battery cells for Envision AESC, which manufactures batteries for the Nissan LEAF in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Recycling batteries is not only environmentally sound, but it may soon become an economic necessity, as demand for batteries outstrips supply. As CNBC reports, cobalt, lithium, nickel, and other raw materials used in EV batteries have become hot commodities, and prices have soared to 52-week highs.

“To make the batteries the world needs in 10 years, the industry will need 1.5 million tons of lithium, 1.5 million tons of graphite, 1 million tons of battery-grade nickel and 500,000 tons of battery-grade manganese,” Sam Jaffe, Managing Director at energy consulting firm Cairn ERA, told CNBC. “The world produces less than a third of each of those [quantities] today. New battery materials sources are highly valued and desperately needed.”

Allan Swan, who oversees Panasonic’s part of Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory, says that the massive plant’s current production capacity of two billion battery cells per year isn’t enough. “Here in the United States, we certainly need four, five, six of these factories to support the automotive industry,” he told CNBC. 

Celina Mikolajczak, VP of Engineering and Battery Technology at Panasonic Energy North America, says recycling will be a critical source for key minerals. “There’s a lot of energy spent extracting these minerals and it makes absolutely no sense to landfill them,” she said. “We would be really foolish if we didn’t take advantage of the capacity of older cells, to create the next generation.”

Redwood recycles all types of lithium-ion batteries, not just EV battery packs. Straubel quipped that “the largest lithium mine is in the junk drawers of America.”

“The sheer magnitude of the waste and scrap problem and the magnitude of batteries that need to get recycled is, I think, shocking to most people,” said Straubel, who is now the CEO of Redwood Materials. “We bring the materials back to a very clean and sort of fundamental state so there is no loss in effectiveness. It’s actually indistinguishable whether there is cobalt coming via an old battery or from a mine.”

EU releases study on demand and supply security of nickel for EV batteries

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has released a report by Roskill that analyzes the EU’s nickel requirements for EV batteries within the context of the global market over a twenty-year forecast horizon to 2040. Against this demand backdrop, Roskill critically assessed the EU’s internal supply capabilities and identified the risk of future shortages.

The report concluded that the availability of suitable feedstock, rather than processing capacity, is the biggest bottleneck in the nickel sulfate supply chain. The authors suggested that the lowest-risk approach would be a combination of domestic and foreign sourcing.

The report’s main findings include:

  • Automotive electrification is expected to represent the single largest growth sector for nickel demand over the next twenty years. 
  • Demand for nickel from batteries requires a high-purity chemical product (nickel sulfate), which can only be produced from suitable feedstock forms (such as Class I nickel and intermediates). Post-2030, there is limited visibility on new projects able to supply Class I and intermediate nickel products.
  • By this stage, nickel units available for recycling from end-of-life (EOL) batteries are likely to become a growing source of raw materials to produce nickel sulfate. There are two tiers of this market balance that need to be considered.
  • On an end-use basis (EV sales), Roskill forecasts that the EU27 has the ability to meet internal demand until 2024/25 before deficits emerge.
  • On a first-use basis (precursor/cathode maker), although demand is much lower, the supply security of nickel is still a concern. Should a sizeable EOL recycling industry not be established, the researchers expect a supply deficit to form in 2027 and then remain over the rest of the outlook period.

The Roskill analysts identified three key headline areas for policy to address: demand deflation, supply security, and research and development.

Heavy-duty electric trucks start to appear in fleets

Charged has been reporting on electric trucks for a decade, but the electrification of real-world fleets has been frustratingly slow, and several would-be e-truck builders have gone bust waiting for fleet operators to conduct years-long pilots. Now we’re finally starting to see some large orders. Will 2021 be the year of the electric truck?

A recent article in Transport Dive discusses the current state of electrification, and the relative merits of battery-electric versus fuel cell technology for heavy-duty vehicles.

Research firm Wood Mackenzie estimates that just over 2,000 electric trucks were in service in the US at the end of 2019, and predicts that that number will grow to 54,000 by 2025. Most analysts say the transition is beginning, but that it will be a gradual process. “I think 2020 was the year of commitments,” Mike Roeth, Executive Director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, told Transport Dive. “If everybody [does] what they say will do, this will happen pretty fast.”

There’s still something of a battle going on between battery-electric trucks and hydrogen fuel cell trucks. The former are championed by Tesla, which expects to deliver the first of its Tesla Semi trucks this year, and by Daimler, which has the Class 8 eCascadia and Class 6-7 eM2 electric trucks in pilot operation, and expects to begin volume production in 2022. Hyundai, Toyota, Navistar and Nikola are developing fuel cell trucks. Swedish OEM Scania is still researching both, but recently said it expects battery-electric to be the dominant technology.

That seems to be the prevailing view among industry analysts. The Rocky Mountain Institute recently released a report on how fleet managers can prepare for electrification. The authors point out several challenges for BEVs, but believe that they will win out over FCEVs. Hydrogen is hobbled by the laws of physics, which make it an inefficient energy carrier, and by the impracticality of rolling out hydrogen fuel stations versus upgrading the existing electricity grid. “There’s no doubt in my mind that [battery-electric trucks] will get there before the hydrogen infrastructure gets its shoes on,” said Chris Nelder, a co-author of the RMI report.

Tim Denoyer, a VP and Senior Analyst at ACT Research, points out that there are as yet few fuel cell trucks in commercial service in North America, whereas there were some 2,000 heavy-duty EVs on the road at the end of 2019. Denoyer expects that number to rise to 4,000 units by the end of 2021.

Issues with electric trucks include higher purchase costs—as much as 40% to 50% more compared to a diesel-powered truck. “Even with that, the total cost of ownership is lower,” said Denoyer, “because you are going to spend less on fuel and maintenance over the life of the vehicle.”

Denoyer also points out that different vehicle classes have different cost equations. Buses and medium-duty electric trucks begin to deliver cost savings much sooner than heavy-duty trucks. Going electric “is a lot easier in Class 4 through 7,” he says, and adds that at the moment, only some Class 8 applications, including drayage and short-haul applications, show a lower total cost of ownership. “Diesel is going to have a cost advantage for longer-haul highway freight for some time.”

Formula E racing begins first season as an FIA world championship

Formula E, the urban electric racing series, begins its seventh season, and its first as an official FIA World Championship, on February 26 and 27, with a nighttime double header on the streets of Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

This season’s events will be broadcast live in over 150 countries around the world. Formula E has inked new or extended media partnerships with over 40 broadcasters, including CBS in the US, and Discovery (Eurosport) in Europe. The races will be broadcast in more than 30 languages.

There are 12 racing teams, each with two drivers. Among the team sponsors are several prominent EV OEMs, including Audi, BMW, DS, Jaguar, Mahindra, Mercedes, NIO and Nissan.

The current second-generation race car packs enough energy storage capacity to complete a whole race (the previous generation performed a mid-race car swap).  The Gen2 racer cranks out 250 kW (335 bhp) of power, and can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, on the way to a top speed of 280 km/h (174 mph).

Title partner ABB provides purpose-built charging infrastructure for the racing series, and this year it will provide lighting technology for the championship’s first night race. The 2.5-kilometer street course of 21 turns hugs the ancient walls of Diriyah, and will be lit by low-power LED technology. According to ABB, all power required for the event, including the LED floodlighting, will be provided by biofuel.

Further races this season will take place in Rome (April 10, 2021); Valencia, Spain (April 24); Monaco (May 8); Marrakesh, Morocco (May 22) and Santiago, Chile (June 5 and 6).