Low cobalt ternary CR1225 battery is being developed

Due to the detection of excess radioactive element uranium in the ore, the international mining giant Glencore recently decided to suspend the export of its cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (hereinafter referred to as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), causing the international cobalt price to rebound. IHSMarkit market consulting agency predicts that this will lead to a rapid rebound in battery raw material prices of about 30%. In recent years, as the global electric vehicle market continues to heat up, the demand for ternary lithium batteries has increased significantly. Cobalt is one of the important cathode materials in ternary lithium batteries, but resources are scarce and prices have been rising since 2017. On the one hand, cobalt prices continue to rise, and on the other hand, subsidies are gradually withdrawn. "High nickel and low cobalt" cathode materials for ternary lithium batteries have become an inevitable development trend. Following the development of low-cobalt batteries by Panasonic and Tesla, chemical giants BASF and Johnson Matthey recently stated that a new battery technology can significantly reduce cobalt content.

Cobalt prices are rising and supply is difficult to guarantee

After Glencore announced that its cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo would suspend exports due to high uranium content, Capital Economics immediately released a report predicting that this would push cobalt prices to reach 7 per ton in mid-2019. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

An analyst at Capital Economics pointed out: "In view of the progress of this incident, we are raising our short-term forecast for cobalt prices. By the middle of next year, the cobalt market will be tighter than we expected." Capital Economics expects cobalt The price will rise further, reaching US$80,000 per ton by the end of 2020, mainly due to the increase in battery demand.

Glencore has produced a total of 25,700 tons of cobalt at its mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo so far this year. In July this year, the company said it expected its annual output to reach 40,000 tons by the end of the first quarter of 2019. This number accounts for 1/3 of global production. The cobalt produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo accounts for more than 60% of the world's total production, and this proportion will continue to rise in the next five years.

Reducing the cobalt content in ternary batteries will help reduce dependence on cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The political turmoil in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as business ethics issues such as the illegal use of child labor and poor working conditions in mining, have also caused headaches for multinational companies, including automobile manufacturers such as BMW and Volkswagen Group that have business dealings and commercial relationships with the country. . Currently, the supply chain end of the above-mentioned multinational companies involved is under strict scrutiny by domestic regulatory authorities.

From 20% to 10% to 4%

As new energy vehicles are taking off in many regions around the world, the purchase price of cobalt has risen, which has become a constraint on the development of new energy vehicles. Many automobile manufacturers and battery companies are developing new technologies in an attempt to reduce the proportion of cobalt in ternary CR1225 battery materials.

Currently, the ratio of nickel-cobalt-manganese/aluminum as cathode material for ternary lithium batteries on the market is mostly 5:2:3 or 6:2:2. Industry insiders pointed out that in the future, the ratio of nickel-cobalt-manganese/aluminum as cathode material for ternary lithium batteries will develop towards 8:1:1.

Recently, Kenner Shaheen, a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a technology entrepreneur, said that he and his R&D team have developed innovative lithium-ion battery technology that can reduce the cobalt content in lithium-ion batteries. The new material he invented can reduce the proportion of cobalt in the cathode of lithium batteries from nearly 20% to 4%, thus significantly reducing the cost of electric vehicles.

According to Kenner Shaheen, the lithium-ion battery technology he developed could improve the performance of electric vehicles in the next few years. The main feature of the above-mentioned technological innovation is the reduction of the use of cobalt elements, thus reducing costs and

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