Here’s how mineral supply chains for EV batteries are being ramped up
A plan has been hatched to expand and diversify critical mineral supply chains globally for the booming EV battery industry – will it work?
There’s an urgent need for critical minerals to meet the growing demand for EV batteries, battery storage, and more. Electrek spoke with John DeMaio, CEO of EV battery mineral processor Graphex Technologies, about how mineral mining and processing is being ramped up and why it’s a vital part of the EV revolution.
Electrek: Why do we need to expand and diversify critical mineral supply chains?
For battery storage, EVs, and semiconductors. EV batteries need more of certain “critical minerals.” The top five for lithium-ion batteries are lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite.
There currently aren’t enough operational mines for these critical minerals for a robust EV battery supply chain. We also need to expand critical mineral processing and recycling capacity.
We also need to diversify our critical minerals sources. China currently dominates the supply chain, but many countries don’t want to be dependent on just China, so they’re looking to onshore, nearshore, or at least friendshore supply lines.
There’s a lot of momentum, but long lead times, high upfront costs, and other challenges can make it tough for new projects to get off the ground without secure sources of favorable funding.
Electrek: I guess that’s where the Minerals Security Partnership comes in. What is it, and has it achieved anything yet?
John DeMaio: The Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) [which launched in June 2022] is an alliance made up of 13 countries [including the US] and the EU, and it’s likely to expand. It’s working to drive public and private investment in critical mineral projects globally.
Last week, the MSP held its inaugural ministerial meeting in the UK, and that resulted in the agreement to “drive responsible investment” in 11 projects in mining or extraction, 4 in processing, and 1 in recycling. That’s going to help to expand and diversify the critical mineral supply chain across continents and mineral types.
How is the MSP impacting critical mineral mining and processing?
The MSP fosters cross-border collaboration, and that’s essential for critical mineral mining. Geology predetermined where these minerals lay in the ground literally epochs ago, so we need to make the most of the current layout. Certain countries that need a lot of minerals to manufacture batteries don’t have enough to build out a mine-to-battery supply chain domestically, while other countries have plenty of critical minerals to tap but less demand from local EV manufacturers for battery inputs.
Mining thrives on far-flung cooperation, but processing thrives on local investment. Battery and EV manufacturers benefit from shorter supply distances to mineral processing locations, which are geographically flexible. Countries can build out their mineral processing capacity anywhere that companies can source the permits, build or renovate the plants, and train the talent. At Graphex, we’re assembling one of the first large-scale mine-to-battery supply chains for natural graphite anode material in North America.
Do MSP countries qualify for US EV incentives via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)?
MSP helps countries coordinate their support for critical mineral projects across borders but doesn’t – at least, not yet – open up members for IRA tax credits. But multiple countries within the MSP already have free-trade agreements with the US, such as Canada, Australia, and, most recently, Japan. Rumor has it that the US is currently negotiating free-trade agreement deals with other groups within the club, such as the UK and EU.
IRA incentives apply only to EVs assembled in North America that meet certain geographic supply chain thresholds for critical minerals and battery components. To qualify for the full IRA $7,500 tax credit this year, vehicles have to have at least 50% of their battery components produced and at least 40% of their critical minerals extracted, processed, and/or recycled either in North America or in a country with which the US has a free trade agreement.
I’m optimistic that the MSP is going to help to build out a secure, diversified battery mineral supply chain to support EV growth. It’s prioritizing promoting responsible practices, and that’s going to set a high standard for project operations that will, I think, continue to drive the nearshoring trend.
Read more: This 240t electric mining haul truck can charge in 30 minutes
Photo: ABB, electric mining truck
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In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.
France and Germany are the two largest economies in the EU, and they share similar challenges when it comes to freight decarbonization. The two countries also share a border, and the traffic between the two nations generates major cross-border flows that create common externalities between the two countries.
At the same time, the EU’s transport sector has struggled to reduce emissions at the same rate as other industries – and road freight in particular is a major contributor to harmful carbon emissions issue due to that industry’s heavy reliance on diesel-powered trucks.
And for once, it seems like rail isn’t a viable option:
While rail remains competitive mainly for heavy, homogeneous goods over long distances. Most freight in Europe is indeed transported over distances of less than 200 km and involves consignment weights of up to 30 tonnes (GCEE, 2024) In most such cases, transportation by rail instead of truck is not possible or not competitive. Moreover, taking into account the goods currently transported in intermodal transport units over distances of more than 300 km, the modal shift potential from road to rail would be only 6% in Germany and less than 2% in France.
That leaves trucks – and, while numerous government incentives currently exist to promote the parallel development of both hydrogen and battery electric vehicle infrastructures, the study is clear in picking a winner.
“Policies should focus on battery-electric trucks (BET) as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport,” reads the the FGCEE statement. “Hence, to ramp-up usage of BET public funding should be used to accelerate the roll-out of fast-charging networks along major corridors and in private depots.”
The appeal was signed by the co-chair of the advisory body on the German side is the chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer. Camille Landais co-chairs the French side. On the German side, the appeal was signed by four of the five experts; Nuremberg-based energy economist Veronika Grimm (who also sits on the National Hydrogen Council, which is committed to promoting H2 trucks and filling stations) did not sign.
You can read an English version of the CAE FGCEE joint statement here.
Electrek’s Take
MAN Trucks’ CEO famously said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to compete with BEVs, and even committed to building 200 hydrogen-powered semi truck to prove out that hypothesis.
He’s not alone. MAN’s board member for research and development, Frederik Zohm, said that the company is the one saying hydrogen still has years to go. “(MAN) continues to research fuel cell technology based on battery electrics,” he said, in a statement quoted by Hydrogen Insight, before another board member added that, “we (MAN) expect that, in the future, we will be able to best serve the vast majority of our customers’ transport applications with battery-electric trucks.”
With companies like Volvo and Renault and now Mercedes racking up millions of miles on their respective battery electric semi truck fleets, it’s no longer even close. EV is the way.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CAE FGCEE; via Electrive.
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GE Vernova has produced over half the turbines needed for SunZia Wind, which will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online in 2026.
GE Vernova has manufactured enough turbines at its Pensacola, Florida, factory to supply over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the turbines needed for the $5 billion, 2.4 GW SunZia Wind, a project milestone. The wind farm will be sited in Lincoln, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Pensacola’s new customer experience center, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik noted that since 2023, the company has invested around $70 million in the Pensacola factory.
The Pensacola investments are part of the announcement GE Vernova made in January that it will invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities over the next two years to help meet the surging electricity demands globally. GE Vernova says it’s expecting its investments to create more than 1,500 new US jobs.
Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said, “Our dedicated employees in Pensacola are working to address increasing energy demands for the US. The workhorse turbines manufactured at this world-class factory are engineered for reliability and scalability, ensuring our customers can meet growing energy demand.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will create US history’s largest clean energy infrastructure project.
Read more: The largest clean energy project in US history closes $11B, starts full construction
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