The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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As part of its commitment to reduce its environmental footprint and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, Toyota Motor North America is collaborating with Redwood Materials Inc. to create a sustainable, closed-loop battery ecosystem for its electrified powertrains. Toward this goal, Toyota and Redwood will explore a series of end-of-life battery solutions for Toyota's proposed battery ecosystem. The mission focuses not only on the collection, testing, and recycling of batteries...
A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has discovered how subtle structural changes in strontium titanate, a metal oxide semiconductor, can alter the material's electrical resistance and affect its superconducting properties. An oxide of strontium and titanium, strontium titanate or fabulite, has been on the radar of scientists for the past 60 years, mostly because it displays unusual properties. For one, it can become a superconductor at low... Full story
A mine that could suck billions of tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and turn it to stone while also producing the nickel, cobalt, and other metals needed for zero-emissions electric vehicles would be the ultimate prize for Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk. Carbin Minerals and Carbfix, two companies developing just that type of technology, have been awarded $1 million from XPRIZE, a global future-positive movement envisioned by Musk and supported by his foundation. XPRIZE... Full story
With mass production of batteries that store intermittent renewable energy and power electric vehicles being a vital component of the envisioned clean energy future, the Biden administration has authorized use of the Defense Production Act to bolster American supplies of these critical battery minerals and materials. "Specifically, the DPA will be authorized to support the production and processing of minerals and materials used for large capacity batteries – such as l... Full story
Adding to the rapidly expanding network of companies building a robust lithium battery materials supply in Ontario, Canada-based Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. and India-based Essar Group Company have forged a partnership to develop a mine and processing plant that will produce lithium that will be needed by electric vehicle and battery manufacturers in Ontario and beyond. Under the agreement, the two companies would co-own Avalon Lithium Inc., a private Avalon subsidiary that... Full story
To help shore up domestic supplies of the cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel, and other materials that go into lithium-ion batteries, the U.S. Department of Energy has directed $3.16 billion from the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to bolster supply chains. This multi-billion-dollar funding comes a month after President Biden authorized the Pentagon to utilize the estimated $750 million of available Defense Production Act Title III funding to establish and... Full story
A research group at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has discovered one-way superconductivity without the use of magnetic fields, something that was thought to be impossible ever since its discovery in 1911 – until now. Throughout the 20th century, many scientists, including Nobel laureates, have struggled over the nature of superconductivity. Discovered in 1911 by Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes, superconductors have since been a holy grail effort by r... Full story
As the price of lithium has skyrocketed over the last 18 months, the demand for lithium-ion batteries is more intense than ever. Battery makers, including Panasonic, LG Chem and CATL, have to budget for the rising cost of lithium, a metal that's crucial to the batteries that go into electric cars, as they expand their production over the coming years. With every bull market, however, there are bear prognosticators who bet on the price of lithium to decline with the market... Full story
Electric-powered 18-wheelers that never need to charge and emit water vapor as exhaust – this is Volvo Trucks' vision for the future of heavy long-haul transport. Hydrogen fuel cells are the technology behind this eco-friendly dream, and the Swedish automaker's truck manufacturing division is already testing hydrogen-powered semis. In the most basic terms, a fuel cell transforms hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen into electricity, water vapor, and a little heat. Platinum catalyst...
Global mining and metals company Rio Tinto has entered into a strategic partnership that includes a roughly US$10 million (C$12.5 million) investment in Nano One Materials Corp., a British Columbia-based company that has developed a technology equivalent to the "Instant Pot" of lithium battery cathode materials. While there has been a lot of buzz about the hundreds of factories being constructed around the globe to manufacture the lithium batteries needed for the electric...
With lithium quadrupling in price over the past year, it's a great time to own this mineral, and the good times extend to Canada-based Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., which recycles metals from electronic waste – including nickel, copper and cobalt, but especially the lithium in consumer and electric vehicle batteries. In recognition for its incredible growth and potential, Corporate Knights has selected Li-Cycle as one of Canada's fastest-growing sustainable companies. "We are t...
Another major automaker has gotten in line to purchase future supplies of low-carbon lithium that Controlled Thermal Resources Ltd. will be cooking up from geothermal brines at its Hell's Kitchen project in the Salton Sea area of Southern California. On June 2, Stellantis signed a binding offtake agreement with CTR for up to 25,000 metric tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per year for the batteries going into Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and other electric vehicles it wil... Full story
Global automaker Stellantis and battery manufacturer Samsung SDI have forged a partnership that will invest US$2.5 billion to establish an electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Kokomo, Indiana. "It's another incredibly exciting day to be back in Kokomo celebrating such a transformational investment from Stellantis and our new partners at Samsung," said Gov. Eric Holcomb. "Today's announcement is another step toward positioning Indiana as a leader in the future of...
With the goal of developing a carbon-neutral open pit mine at its Blackwater gold project in British Columbia, Artemis Gold Inc. has cut a deal with Caterpillar Inc. for the future delivery of electric haul trucks. Located in Central BC, the Blackwater Mine is forecast to produce roughly 7.5 million ounces of gold and 40.4 million oz of silver over 22 years. A feasibility study published last fall details an open-pit operation that will be developed in phases – starting off a...
The International Energy Agency warns that traffic jams threaten the clean energy future. Not on global highways congested with electric vehicles, nor in lines of these EVs waiting to top off their batteries with low-carbon electricity at charging stations. Instead, this gridlock is more likely to happen in automotive and battery factories that cannot find plentiful and affordable supplies of the minerals and metals needed. "Prices of many minerals and metals that are essentia...
In a significant step forward for the electric vehicle industry, Mercedes-Benz announced the next step in its partnership with Sila Nanotechnologies, to incorporate Sila's silicon anode chemistry in batteries for its upcoming Mercedes-Benz G-Class electric vehicles. Aptly located in Silicon Valley, Sila Nano has developed a silicon-based anode battery technology that is expected to enable lighter, safer, and higher energy density batteries for EVs, longer-lasting portable...
Lithium-ion battery recycling company Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has entered into a strategic partnership with Glencore plc, with an initial investment of $200 million toward improving the electric vehicle supply chain. "We are thrilled to have Glencore as a long-term strategic investor and global commercial partner," said Li-Cycle CEO Ajay Kochhar. "Bringing our complementary capabilities together will accelerate the path to a circular economy for critical materials in the...
A leading innovator in metals recycling, Aqua Metals Inc. has achieved a new milestone in proving its recycling technology by plating high-purity nickel metal, one atom at a time, from black mass recovered from a variety of lithium-ion batteries. "The only Li-battery recycling method commercially in use today is smelting, which produces an alloy of the metals that needs multiple pyrometallurgical steps of processing to achieve the product we produce right out of our system," s...
A small Australia-based energy technology company is hot on the trail of building a prototype of a long-lived power generation system that could open the path to extended space travel, as well as a reliable and low-cost source of electricity for remote defense sites. But the revolutionary GenX units – which can provide power for decades without a continuous fuel source nor any human intervention or maintenance – is just one of several barrier-breaking technologies that Pho...
Over the course of one monumental week, Energy Fuels Inc. shipped a trifecta of mineral products critical to the production, storage, and use of low-carbon energy in the United States from its White Mesa Mill in southern Utah. "This week, our vision of Energy Fuels as 'America's Critical Mineral and Clean Energy Hub' tangibly advanced, as our White Mesa Mill in Utah sent three shipments of advanced materials containing a total of fifteen critical elements," said Energy Fuels...
Although the weather is warming as spring arrives to the Northern Hemisphere, fans of winter sports can look forward to the latest addition to electrification with Taiga Motors Inc. announcing the launch of a battery-electric snowmobile, a first for the company and world. Hoping to electrify snowmobiles since its inception in 2015, Canada-based Taiga has long been ahead of the curve and has been determined to transform motorsports with the adoption of electrification. Yet, it...
In another deal to secure the raw materials it needs to produce enough Ultium batteries to power up to 1 million electric vehicles per year by 2025, General Motors struck a multi-year agreement to purchase cobalt from Glencore's Murrin Murrin operation in Western Australia. A rare and critical metal, cobalt plays an important role in improving the energy density and longevity of the lithium-ion batteries powering EVs. "Future facing commodities like cobalt play a pivotal role...
Two research teams, one in the United States and the other in Australia – working on separate projects to improve lithium batteries – have reported significant breakthroughs recently that could make lithium-sulfur batteries a viable option. As interest grows in harnessing green, emissions-free electricity to power everything from personal devices like smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles for consumers and industry, lithium batteries are becoming an important sto...
Global automaker Stellantis and battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution have forged a partnership that will invest US$4.1 billion (C$5 billion) to establish the first large-scale, electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Canada. To be built in Windsor, Ontario, this new facility will produce leading-edge lithium-ion battery cells and modules that will power a significant portion of the EVs being manufactured in North America for Stellantis, which owns Chrysler,...
Lars Carlstrom, who has already founded two companies building lithium-ion battery gigafactories in Europe, has launched a third enterprise that plans to build a 54-gigawatt-hour battery facility in Southern California that will be supplied with geothermal power and lithium from Controlled Thermal Resources' Hell's Kitchen project in Imperial Valley. Carlstrom is a pioneering industrialist in the automotive sector who founded Britishvolt, which is developing a 30 GWh battery g... Full story
