A worker with lithium EV the battery at a factory of Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co., in Nanjing, Chinain 2021. (AFP via Getty Images)
The race to make better batteries (roughly translated: cheaper) for the coming wave of Electric Car barely started. But New York Times declared a winner.
In a well-researched article this week in the Times, titled “Can the world make electric car batteries without China?”, reporters concluded that the Chinese have won awarded. They are “at the forefront of mining rare minerals, training engineers and building giant factories that the rest of the world could take decades to catch up”.
The predictions are bold, but reporters Keith Bradshaw and Agnes Chang have managed to prove them, by detailing China’s hyper-ambitious production chain, from getting raw materials out of the earth to making them real. the production of vehicles using lithium ion batteries.
Their scenario is one that focuses on supply control – mining components like cobalt, lithium, nickel, etc – that could potentially allow the Chinese to take a dominant position in the battery chase. And while Western countries are trying to catch up with this raw material, they have balked at investing “in countries with unstable governments or poor labor practices. And they were slow to ramp up their own production,” the story continues.
The Chinese, on the other hand, lack such restrictions and have relied on state funds to buy shares in mining companies on five continents. As a result, the reports state: “China controls 41% of the world’s cobalt mining and mines the most for lithium, the battery’s charge carrier.”
The article goes on to explain the complex processing and fine-tuning steps required to create a usable battery, and says that once again the Chinese have the upper hand. Today, it said, the United States “has very little processing capacity. An oil refinery usually takes two to five years to build. Training workers and adjusting equipment can take extra time.”
For high school students who want to cite some relevant source material for their term papers on trams, the Times story is an informational font, displayed in a typeface right next to it. before:
- cobalt Mining: 41% globally owned by China
- Cobalt refining: 73% in China
- Cathode: 77% made in China
- Anode: 92% made in China
- Cell battery: 66% assembled in China
- Electric cars: 54% made in China
“China has the most electric cars on the road, and nearly all of them use Chinese-made batteries,” the newspaper wrote. … Electric car buyers in China are taxed discountcheaper car registration, preferential parking and access to an extensive charging network.”
Although automakers in other countries spend big on enticing ads exaggerating an “inevitable” tram future, the Chinese spend on battery research. The Times story ends by noting that it is “nearly impossible” for any other country to become autonomous in the battery supply chain.
Scott Kennedy, a senior advisor at Center for Strategic and International Studies“There’s no way anyone would have succeeded in electric vehicles without some form of cooperation with China, either directly or indirectly.”
Read full report This.
