Frank
Top 20
Musk appeals for more lithium production to meet battery demand
Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk made a public appeal for more investment in lithium mining to close what he sees as a yawning gap between supply and demand that’s being fueled by the adoption of electric vehicles.
Battery production, and more specifically lithium, is the “fundamental limiting factor” for electric-vehicle adoption worldwide, Musk said on an earnings call with investors Wednesday.
“We think we’re going to need to help the industry on this front,” Musk said.
“I’d certainly encourage entrepreneurs out there who are looking for opportunities to get into the lithium business.
Lithium margins right now are practically software margins.”
Earlier Wednesday, Tesla reported a record first-quarter profit, helped in part by raising prices.
An index of global lithium prices compiled by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence surged 280% in 2021 and another 127% in the first quarter.
Soaring prices for lithium, a key ingredient in EV batteries, are increasing raw material costs for carmakers such as Tesla.
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Rivian CEO warns of electric-vehicle battery shortage on the horizon
Much of the battery supply chain isn’t built, challenging an industry aiming to sell tens of millions of EVs in coming years, CEO RJ Scaringe says.
Rivian Automotive Inc. Chief Executive RJ Scaringe is warning that the auto industry could soon face a looming shortage of battery supplies for electric vehicles—a challenge that he says could surpass the current computer-chip shortage.Car companies are trying to lock up limited supplies of raw materials like cobalt, lithium and nickel that are key to battery making, and many are constructing their own battery plants to put more battery-powered models in showrooms.
Scaringe said building enough batteries will be among the biggest hurdles for an industry trying to boost electric-vehicle sales from a few million today to tens of millions within the decade.
The shortages will occur everywhere from the mining of raw materials, to processing them, to building the battery cells themselves, he said.
“Put very simply, all the world’s cell production combined represents well under 10% of what we will need in 10 years,” Scaringe said last week, while giving reporters a tour of the company’s plant in Normal, Ill.
“Meaning, 90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist,” he added.
www.marketwatch.com
Ford stops taking orders for all-electric 2022 Mustang Mach-E
American automotive giant Ford has stopped taking orders in the United States for the current model year of the all-electric Mustang Mach-E, due to high demand.The 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E page on the US Ford website currently states that, “Due to high demand, the current model year is no longer available for retail order. Limited inventory may be available at selected dealers. Contact your dealer for more information.”
The Mustang Mach-E was Ford’s first electric vehicle, when it debuted in late 2019, a sleek four-door SUV with the US auto giant’s iconic Mustang branding, a range of 505kms and acceleration of 0-100km/h in only 3.5 seconds (for the GT Performance Edition).
Ford announced late last year that it was planning to boost global production of all its current electric vehicles – including the Mustang Mach-E, the F-150 Lightning, and the E-Transit – to 600,000 units a year by 2023.
But it appears that the ramp-up of production has not happened fast enough to meet increasing demand for the Mach-E in the US, although it remains on sale in Europe and the UK.
Huge demand is not unsurprising, considering that it was rumoured Mustang Mach-E reservations had soared to more than 30,000 before launch in early January.
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EVs can store power for our homes and the grid: Why ‘vehicle-to-everything’ technology is a must-follow investing theme
Biden’s Department of Energy joins Ford, GM, California utilities and others to launch a joint effort for using EVs to help the nation’s power grid
Electric vehicles are projected to take over the roads in the coming decades, but it’s their capability as a power storage source well beyond their own driving needs that increasingly captures the attention of the government, the private sector and investors.
It’s known as “vehicle-to-everything” technology (V2X) and it represents a growth area for the automakers themselves, as well as chip companies and other tech interests.
One industry report said it expects the global automotive V2X market to reach $3.3 billion by 2026, essentially up from zero.
On Wednesday, the Department of Energy along with DOE National Labs, California state and local government officials, utilities and private entities, announced a joint effort to commercialize the technologies that allow EVs to securely send extra power back to the national electricity grid.
Specifically, the effort involves bidirectional plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs).
The announcement was made at a net-zero-emissions electricians training facility in Commerce, Calif.
The technology can also be leveraged to help commercial buildings save money on heating, cooling and lighting costs, and to provide backup power to homes, essentially a four-wheeled generator in the garage.
It could also create new revenue opportunities for EV owners.
“Integrating charging technology that powers vehicles and simultaneously pushes energy back into the electrical grid is a win-win for the future of clean transportation and our energy resilience overall,” Deputy Secretary of Energy Dave Turk said.
The International Energy Agency estimates there will be 130 million electric vehicles TSLA on the road globally by 2030.
In addition to increasing electricity demand, these EVs in total will contain 10 times the amount of energy storage needed by the grid.
The IEA’s most aggressive estimate — at 250 million EVs by 2030 — would mean that 6% of the batteries in the automotive fleet could potentially meet all the grid’s energy storage needs.
www.marketwatch.com
Food for thought as we wait patiently on the side of the Road with a Flat Tyre for that ML to arrive
Fingers crossed
Frank
