There’s no doubt about it: electric vehicles have arrived and will continue to exist. This is true in both the automotive and motorcycle worlds, where manufacturers are striving to develop the best and most reliable technology available. What’s more, incentives from governments around the world are set to accelerate this process even further.
In fact, we don’t need to look far when it comes to governments that are giving electrification a boost. In the US, the Biden administration has been aggressively encouraging local production, with the Department of Energy previously announcing funding of up to 3.1 billion dollars for battery manufacturing. In addition, the department also announced funding of 192 million dollars for battery recycling initiatives. Naturally, this has led to a series of actions recently, with companies now working to increase battery production in the US.
Lithium batteries are nothing new, as they have been powering our devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets since they were invented. That said, demand for lithium batteries has skyrocketed due to the growing popularity of electric motorcycles and cars, which use several orders of magnitude more batteries than those found in smartphones.
To keep up with the growing demand, BASF, a company specializing in the production of battery materials, has announced a partnership with Nanotech Energy, a company specializing in energy products based on graphene (one of the crystalline forms of carbon). The two companies will work together to produce lithium-ion batteries with recycled materials, to satisfy most of the North American market.
On BASF’s side, the company will produce active materials for the cathode (the electrode from which conventional current leaves a polarized electrical device) from recycled metals at its facilities in Michigan. Meanwhile, Nanotech will use these active materials to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells. In total, BASF expects the facility to reduce its carbon footprint by up to 25%.
To ensure the efficiency of their production, the two companies will also be working together with the American Battery Technology Company (ABTC) and TODA Advanced Materials Inc. from Canada. ABTC will recycle the materials used in Nanotech’s battery production – such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and magnesium. Once recycled, the materials will be delivered to TODA, which will use them to produce the battery precursors that BASF needs for its production. The whole structure creates a closed-loop system made up entirely of North American companies.
Commenting on the partnership, Daniel Schönfelder, vice president of base metals and battery recycling at BASF, said in an article in The Verge: “Our partnership with Nanotech, ABTC and TODA marks an important step for BASF’s global battery recycling business. We are now establishing the first closed-loop system in North America. This allows BASF and Nanotech to produce lithium-ion batteries with locally recycled content.”
Interesting!