Resource war behind electric vehicle batteries -Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment
LG Chem has provided batteries to Volkswagen, Samsung SDI has provided all electric versions of Volkswagen Golf, BMW 530e and Porsche PanameraHybrid have provided batteries. SK Innovation manufactures batteries for Kia NiroEV. Due to the instability of supply and demand and the price of raw materials, the profitability of each battery company is different.
However, the cobalt ore needed for battery production is upgrading to a national strategic resource. The United States and the European Union have regulated cobalt as a controversial mineral and prevented enterprises from mining minerals in controversial areas. At present, all countries are protecting their own ecological environment. The same is true in China. As a major producer of cobalt, China almost monopolizes cobalt resources.
Increasingly, diesel vehicles emit soot, and environmental vehicles are attracting attention. Milan, Italy, has decided to ban cars with emissions lower than Euro 4 in mid January. Major cities in Germany prohibit cars below Euro 5 standards from entering the city center. Higher fuel costs are also favored by more efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles. When we entered the second half of this year, oil prices were rising. As oil prices continue to burden households, some governments have decided to reduce fuel tax by 10% this year to stimulate the economy.
In the era of high operating costs and restrictions on fuel vehicles, environment-friendly hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles are a rapidly growing market. In recent years, hydrogen fuel electric power is becoming a new type of environment-friendly vehicle, but hydrogen fuel vehicles are also equipped with high-capacity batteries.
The important raw material of lithium ion battery is lithium, but cobalt is also an important additive of lithium ion battery. The interior of the lithium-ion battery is composed of an electrolyte, a positive electrode (+) and a negative electrode (-). Place graphite (carbon) on the cathode and lithium metal oxide (LiMO2) on the anode (+). Most of these batteries use lithium cobalate (LiCoO2) as the anode material. Cobalt is also added. However, with the recent surge in the price of rare metals such as cobalt and lithium, electric vehicle battery manufacturers have been hurting production.
The most important batteries in environment-friendly electric vehicles are produced by world famous companies. This includes that LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation are supplying batteries to the world outside China. LG Chemical signed a contract with Volkswagen for the supply of batteries on April 4. LG Chem also supplies batteries to Hyundai Kona and Nissan's second-generation E+models. NiroEV is equipped with batteries of SKInnovation. Samsung SDI provides batteries for Volkswagen Electronic Golf, BMW 530e and Porsche Panamera hybrid vehicles.
On September 28 last year, the price of cobalt fell to $62 per kilogram. But by March 30 this year, the international trading price of cobalt was $94 per kilogram, the highest level in history. The fluctuation range is still large. A few years ago, the price of cobalt did not exceed $30 per kilogram, but since the fourth quarter of 2017, the price has risen to $60 per kilogram. Because cobalt is the most important raw material for battery manufacturing, the demand for electric vehicles is far higher than production. There are many people waiting to make an appointment to buy an electric car. Automobile manufacturers are also helpless.
In addition to electric vehicles and batteries made in China, Panasonic also produces many batteries. LGChem ranked second, Samsung SDI ranked fourth, and SK Innovation ranked sixth. Due to the subsidy policy of the Chinese government, electric vehicle and battery production companies have developed rapidly. Ningde Times is one of the famous battery production companies. BYD's battery factory operated independently will achieve a scale of 50Gwh in 2020. Tesla's joint venture battery factory in GigaFactory, Nevada and Panasonic has an annual output of 20GWh.