cobalt

Experts have warned that producing a new generation of electric vehicles— and supplying the electricity to keep their batteries charged— will add up to costly and “huge implications” for the world’s natural resources.

The UK alone would need just under twice the current annual world cobalt production to meet its EV targets for 2050, according to a letter to government climate change advisers co-authored by the head of earth sciences at the UK’s Natural History Museum, Prof Richard Herrington.

Belgium’s Umicore is to acquire Freeport Cobalt’s cobalt refining and cathode precursor activities in Finland as an “important step” toward expanding the company’s battery materials business.

The deal, which is expected to be finalised by the end of 2019, is for a total consideration of US$150 million on a debt and cash free basis, plus the value of the working capital to be taken over at closing, which at the end of March was approximately $40m.

BMW is to buy cobalt for its electric vehicle (EV) batteries directly from mines in Australia and Morocco to ensure “complete transparency” about the origin of the raw material.

A spokesperson for the German carmaker told BEST Battery Briefing today the move to obtain supplies outside of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would “eliminate any residual risks of human rights violations in the mining of cobalt”.

Amnesty International is calling for “ethical batteries” to be produced for electric vehicles (EVs) within five years— and for a crackdown to prevent human rights abuses in raw materials mining.

Amnesty secretary-general Kumi Naidoo said a “drastic overhaul” of energy sources was needed “that prioritises protection of human rights and the environment”.

Cheaper battery storage systems are less than 20 years away from becoming a "competitive" alternative to oil and gas-fired peaking plants, according to a new International Energy Agency (IEA) study.

The cost of battery storage is projected to “decline fast” by 2040 and global BESS capacity could reach 220 giagwatts by 2040, the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2018 said.

This would see batteries "increasingly compete with gas-fired peaking plants to manage short-run fluctuations in supply and demand"— with the scenario’s projected need for global peaking capacity set to increase by three-quarters compared to 2017.