Lithium company Ioneer scores 0 million conditional loan from Energy Department for Nevada plant

Lithium company Ioneer scores $700 million conditional loan from Energy Department for Nevada plant

Published

2 years ago

January 13, 2023

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Lithium company Ioneer said Friday that it’s secured a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $700 million from the Department of Energy as the U.S. seeks to develop new supply chains for materials that are critical to the energy transition.

Ioneer is developing the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Esmeralda County, Nevada. When fully operational, the site will produce enough lithium for 400,000 electric vehicles, the company said, while also producing boron.

The plant isn’t yet operational, but Ioneer has already secured offtake agreements with Ford and Toyota. Some experts believe there simply won’t be enough lithium to meet the demand boom fueled by electric vehicles, meaning automakers are increasingly entering agreements with upstream players to secure supplies.

Rhyolite Ridge is a joint venture with miner Sibanye-Stillwater, which owns 50% of the project after investing $490 million in September 2021.

The permitting process for new lithium mines is extensive. Ioneer’s loan from the DOE hinges on several conditions, including that the company receives all of the necessary permits. The company said in December that it’s in the final stage of the federal permitting process. The Center for Biological Diversity has come out against the project, saying it poses an “existential threat” to a rare wildflower.

If approved, the loan, made under the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, will be for Ioneer’s on-site lithium processing facility.

Esmeralda County is also home to Albemarle’s Silver Peak facility, which is currently the only operating lithium plant in the U.S.

Inside Silver Peak, America's only active lithium mine

The U.S. has a lot of lithium, but getting it out of the ground is expensive, and new projects often face opposition over environmental concerns.

Still, Friday’s announcement is the latest in a string of lithium companies announcing new or expanded U.S. plants on the heels of the Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation provides support for lithium companies on the manufacturing side, while also tying the incentives for EV tax rebates to where the vehicle’s battery is produced.

Albemarle is in the process of reopening its Kings Mountain mine in North Carolina, while also doubling the output at its Silver Peak facility.

Piedmont Lithium unveiled plans for a new lithium refining plant in Tennessee in September, and Lithium Americas is in the process of developing its Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. The project has been delayed by years of permitting hurdles.

Environment

Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

Published

6 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!

Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.

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Environment

This ‘supercharger on wheels’ brings fast charging to you [update]

Published

8 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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This 'supercharger on wheels' brings fast charging to you [update]

Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”

November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).

It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.

Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”

May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.

“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.

The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)

Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)

Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.

The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.

To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.

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Environment

Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Published

8 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Marqeta celebrates its initial public offering at the Nasdaq on June 9, 2021.

Source: The Nasdaq

Marqeta shares tumbled more than 30% in extended trading on Monday after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter.

Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: 6 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 5 cents expected
Revenue: $128 million vs. $128.1 million expected

While third-quarter results showed a slight disappointment on the top and bottom lines, Marqeta’s forecast for the current period was more concerning.

The payment processing firm said revenue in the fourth quarter will increase 10% to 12% from a year earlier. Analysts were looking for growth of more than 17%, according to LSEG.

Marqeta, which primarily functions as a card-issuing platform, attributed the guidance miss to “heightened scrutiny of the banking environment and specific customer program changes.” The company has been struggling for a while, and its stock is now down more than 80% from its peak in 2021, the year it went public. The stock was down 15% for the year prior to the report.

Total processing volume of $74 billion was up more than 30% from a year earlier. Net revenue and gross profit were up 18% and 24%, respectively.

Marqeta’s digital commerce business sells payment technology designed to detect potential fraud and ensure that money is properly routed. It also issues customized physical cards that look like a credit or debit card that can be used for point-of-sale purchases.

The company has been trying to break into the buy now, pay later business with a recently launched product called Marqeta Flex. The service brings BNPL from lenders such as Affirm or Klarna to any credit card wherever Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

“It’s an orchestration layer, but it’s tied to issuing and processing and disputes and chargebacks,” CEO Simon Khalaf told CNBC at Money2020 in Las Vegas last week. “So it is not actually a Wild West in BNPL. It is actually very well established. And there is a reason why a lot of people are jumping to it.”