Summer season is upon us! A bird’s eye view of what’s been happening over the last few months.
🌊 Companies will start formally submitting applications to mine in the deep sea THIS MONTH
We wrote about this recently and the timing is creeping up. The International Seabed Authority is currently negotiating the terms of the mining code but if a decision is not made by July 2023, companies could start deep-sea mining in the high seas even without regulations.
The ISA is set to start reviewing mining applications on July 9 2023.
In some respects, deep sea mining is inevitable. The deep sea mining race is just about to start whether we like it or not - It’s important to do it right in a way that's environmentally sustainable and backed by real science. There are so many open questions on environmental costs. A new report from Planet Tracker highlighted the costs for deep sea restoration to repair environmental damage due to underwater mining.
Countries are starting to make plans around exploring the deep sea. Norway announced last month they would start their explorations. Not directly related, Norway also discovered the largest high-grade phosphate deposit of over 70 billion tons in the world, a resource of strategic importance to the West for LFP batteries and agriculture. We can expect to see more regions making announcements in the coming months to start exploring, and a handful of companies and countries publicly declare a moratorium against any materials from the deep sea amid concerns about environmental impact.
We’re wondering… what do people think?
Some additional reading
The Minerals Manhattan Project: Deep Sea Mining – The Law of Unintended Consequences
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when… the question of who is the only variable that we have control over… if we don’t do it, then China probably will”
The Guardian: Why we need to respect Earth’s last great wilderness – the ocean
Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World by Helen Czerski
We will be doing a deep dive on deep sea mining soon.
🔋 New EU battery rules
The EU parliament approved on Wednesday new rules to make batteries more durable and more sustainable. As of July 10th, these rules are now live. Here are the key takeaways:
Compulsory carbon footprint declaration and label for batteries
Portable batteries in appliances that can be easily removed and replaced
A digital battery passport for anything bigger than 2kWh
Due diligence policy to address social and environmental risks
Waste collection targets:
For portable batteries - 45% (2023); 63% (2027); 73% (2030);
For LMT batteries - 51% (2028); 61% (2031)
Minimum levels of materials recovered from waste batteries:
Lithium - 50% (2027); 80% (2031)
Cobalt, copper, lead and nickel - 90% (2027); 95% (2031)
Minimum levels of recycled content from manufacturing and consumer waste for use in new batteries:
8 years after the start of the regulation - 16% for cobalt, 85% for lead, 6% for lithium and 6% for nickel;
13 years after the start of the regulation - 26% for cobalt, 85% for lead, 12% for lithium and 15% for nickel.
Infyos has produced an EU Battery Regulations White Paper which serves as a brilliant summary and timeline.
🏭 Manufacturing & geopolitics
Large investments with a focus on domestic production are going all the way up.
Ford x SK Onco secured a $9.2B loan to build 3 battery plants producing up to 120 GWh in the US, one in Tennessee and two in Kentucky. This will support 5000 construction jobs and 7500 operations jobs. This is the single largest loan in the history of the Loan Programs Office.
LG will build up to 280 GWh of production capacity in the US
Gotion has come out with a new “L600” LMFP battery with 240 Wh/kg! Gotion is planning to build a $2.3b factory in northern Michigan, production is expected in 2024.
Northvolt’s own Peter Carlsson writes about the importance of building sustainable batteries in regions with available renewable energy with low carbon supply chains.
If you’ve got a NY Times subscription, here’s a very very nice visualisation of the global battery supply chain.
However, not all investments are going forward. Some EV/battery factories are facing pushback and their IRA grants are being pulled, or just struggling in general.
Microvast was awarded $200m but has now been reversed due to “deep ties to China”.
Amprius and the DoE have ended discussions around a cost-sharing demo project worth about $50m. This would have been a part of their 500MWh plant in Brighton, Colorado.
In the EV world, Nikola bins off battery system designer Romeo Power after buying them last year for $144m, and Lordstown Motors goes bust, failing to produce a single electric truck.
Across the pond, manufacturing operations in the UK struggle across the value chain.
Cornish Lithium, one of the UK’s only lithium producers, needs £10m to continue operations.
Scottish battery manufacturer AMTE Power running low on cash.
UK EV maker Arrival cancels their second SPAC (re-spac?).
Wanted to give a shoutout to a new Substack newsletter from Huiling Zhou focussing on weekly news on battery and critical metals news!
🎧 What else we’re reading/listening to
A battery dataset for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft - the largest open dataset of battery cells tested for eVTOL missions
Mapping internal temperatures during high-rate battery applications - Tracking current collector expansion using X-ray diffraction (XRD)!
Tracking Electrolyte Motion in Cylindrical Li-ion Cells Using Moment of Inertia Measurements
How to become a battery expert guide by Drexel Prof Wes Chang
Guide to Investing in the EV Battery Supply Chain - Green Finance Institute
The Verge: An auto CEO came very close to saying the right thing about heavy EV batteries (big batts are not the answer!)
And in related news to big batts… Curbed: You May Soon Have to Pay More to Drive That SUV in New York
Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future by Ed Conway
Michael Campos writes about underground power lines
In memory of John B. Goodenough
In his memory, we wanted to share JBG’s little-known autobiography Witness to Grace, and a special feature we did a year ago to celebrate JBG’s 100th birthday.
🌞 Thanks for reading!
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I just saw a WWF ad on Twitter of all places, they're campaigning against deep sea mining. The deep sea floor has nothing I particularly care about, so as far as I'm concerned, mine away.