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(6) stories found containing 'batteries create critical cobalt situation'


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  • A gold Lucid Air four-door sedan EV at the AMP-1 factory in Arizona.

    Trifecta of graphite disadvantages for US

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Rising demand, lack of domestic supply, and China's dominance. While graphite has not captured the same level of media attention as some of the other mined materials critical to the clean energy transition, the strategic nature of this largest ingredient in lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles is high on the list of concerns for American automakers, Washington policymakers, and the Pentagon's top brass. These worries are based on a trifecta of graphite...

  • Cobalt is a transition metal between iron and nickel on the periodic table.

    Critical cobalt overshadowed by lithium

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 20, 2022

    Replacing this oft-maligned lithium-ion battery metal comes at a cost Traditionally a headline-grabbing metal due to the perceived human rights and monetary costs it adds to lithium-ion batteries and the electric vehicles they power, cobalt is being overshadowed by the enormous demand and price increases for the lithium and nickel that also go into the storage cells that deliver the "E" to the EV revolution. Cobalt, however, continues to be a vital ingredient that improves...

  • Critical Minerals Alliances cobalt DRC First Cobalt Tesla EV electric vehicle

    Solving the critical cobalt conundrum

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 16, 2021

    The envisioned green future where every North American is driving a battery-powered electric vehicle charged with renewable energy could be undermined by cobalt, a somewhat scarce and controversial metal that makes lithium-ion batteries better. "Cobalt is considered the highest material supply chain risk for electric vehicles in the short and medium term," the U.S. Department of Energy penned in an April report. This risk has automakers, lithium-ion battery manufacturers, and...

  • Critical Minerals Alliances Google Silixa germanium quantum QuTech qubit solar

    The quantum states of germanium demand

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 16, 2021

    From the transistors in quantum computers that are millions of times faster than their classical counterparts to fiber optic cables that send data at the speed of light, germanium is a little-known semiconductor that is a small but extremely important ingredient in the technologies behind the future of ultrafast computing and communications. Germanium traces its technological roots back to the 1950s, when scientists developed the transistor to replace vacuum tubes in the...

  • Copper turns green with critical minerals

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 22, 2020

    While copper is not on the United States Geological Survey's list of 35 minerals and metals critical to America, there is no doubt of this metal's importance to both the everyday and avant-garde technologies vital to America's economy and security. "None of the other critical minerals work without copper," Trilogy Metals President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse told Mining News. Automobiles are a prime example of how emerging technologies and green energy will drive the demand...

  • Batteries create critical cobalt situation

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jun 22, 2020

    Cobalt is a critical safety ingredient in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries powering the ever-increasing number of electric vehicles traveling global highways and a plethora of cordless electrical devices. "Globally, the leading use is in the manufacture of cathode materials for rechargeable batteries – primarily lithium-ion, nickel-cadmium, and nickel-metal-hydride batteries – which are used in consumer electronics, electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, energy sto...