When one person has something another needs, and that other person has something the first person needs, it makes sense to trade. Today, we learned how a manufacturer of heavy equipment, used in mining, is working toward a zero-emission future where batteries are needed. A mining company, on the other … [continued]
Graphite has recently been classified as a “critical need” mineral for national security by the US government due to its key role in EV batteries and other significant technologies. Regrettably, around 80% of the present supply is sourced overseas, mostly from China. A big endeavor is currently in progress to … [continued]
Rare earth minerals and other battery materials are crucial for global politics. As this article explains, China’s power over the worlds clean technology advancements and medical progress came to a head in 2010 when it cut off supplies to Japan. This ultimately left Japan defenseless, and with no choice but … [continued]
When it comes to electric vehicles and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, almost all of the discussion has been around the consumer tax credit for buying an electric vehicle, including the interesting new battery aspects of that. That’s a big topic, but there’s a whole other battery angle separate … [continued]
There’s been a lot of discussion about the new Clean Vehicle Credit in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that is making its way toward Joe Biden’s desk (having left the Senate, it’s now just got to get through the House of Representatives). However, for all of the simple — … [continued]
It is imperative that the United States adopt policies that will improve both the sustainability and security of the materials supply needed to enable a clean energy transition. The policies the Biden administration has advanced through executive action and Congress is currently considering through this climate deal will help meet this goal.
As the electric vehicle market matures, battery recycling and reuse rapidly becomes a bigger deal. Battery recycling is a long established practice, but never before at the scale we will see for lithium-ion batteries from electric cars and trucks. One might think there’s nothing new under the sun in this … [continued]
The timeline of a transition to a new technology can be seen as a series of constraints — obstacles that temporarily prevent the new technology from displacing the old. These obstacles aren’t always technological — sometimes they have to do with economic or social factors. Of course, to the croakers and … [continued]
The United States imports many of the minerals used in EV batteries, such as cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese, and nickel, with lithium being the predominant mineral. Although use of these minerals is not restricted to battery production for EVs, they are nonetheless important for meeting the increasing demand for EV … [continued]
This episode of CleanTech Talk is part two of a recent conversation I had with RK Equity cofounder Howard Klein. You can listen to part one here. In part two, we started talking about nickel. It was over a year ago that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was very publicly requesting … [continued]
