Accelerating Electric Vehicle Demand Driving Significant Need for Battery Materials

July 20, 2021 - By: Baystreet Staff


With electric vehicle demand are only accelerating all around the world. In fact, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, analysts expect “sales of passenger plug-in electric vehicles to increase from just over three million units in 2020 to over 11 million units by 2025.” That’s great news for companies such as General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), Volkswagen (OTC:VWAGY), Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA). In addition, the “International Energy Agency recently suggested that government action will be needed to ensure adequate supplies exist of nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements given the "looming mismatch" between expected demand and planned investments in supply,” they added, which could be quite beneficial for EV battery materials and metal company NEO Battery Materials Ltd. (TSXV:NBM) (OTC:NBMFF).

NEO Battery Materials Signs MOU with Ferroglobe for Silicon Anode Technology

NEO Battery Materials Ltd. (TSXV: NBM)(OTC: NBMFF) just announced it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Ferroglobe Innovation, a subsidiary of NASDAQ-listed Ferroglobe PLC, one of the world’s leading suppliers of silicon metal, silicon-based and manganese-based specialty alloys and ferroalloys. The two companies entered into a non-disclosure agreement in April and have advanced discussions regarding the development of silicon powders and anode materials.

Under the terms of the MOU, the parties intend to pursue synergies and mutual benefit through combining NEO’s silicon nanocoating technology and FGI’s silicon materials to optimize the electrochemistry, performance, and cost of the silicon powder and anode materials in lithium-ion batteries. Advancing cost-effective manufacturing capabilities for the silicon downstream are of priority and essence for the full adoption of silicon anodes in electric vehicles and energy store solutions (ESS) applications.

Ferroglobe is a global leading producer of silicon metal and its respective alloys, operating with 26 production centers in Canada, France, South Africa, Spain, and the U.S amongst other markets. Ferroglobe Innovation has developed proprietary, state-of-the-art technology to produce high-purity silicon powders and to supply customized solutions to manufacturer customers. Ferroglobe accounts for 14% of the global production capacity of silicon metal and is recognized as the leading producer of ferroalloys in the European Union.

Spencer Huh, President and CEO of NEO, commented, “We are highly excited to be in discussion with Ferroglobe. The expertise and experience that FGI brings is invaluable to NEO’s accelerated plan of commercialization. NEO emphasizes that cost and performance of silicon anode materials are highly complementary as one cannot go without the other. Thus, we will engage closely with Ferroglobe to push the development of low-cost, mass-producible end market anode materials.”

Other related developments from around the markets include:

Tesla Inc. released its financial results for the first quarter of 2021 by posting an update on its Investor Relations website. Please visit https://ir.tesla.com to view the update.

General Motors Company has agreed to form a strategic investment and commercial collaboration with Controlled Thermal Resources to secure local and low-cost lithium. This lithium will be produced through a closed-loop, direct extraction process that results in a smaller physical footprint, no production tailing and lower carbon dioxide emissions when compared to traditional processes like pit mining or evaporation ponds.  Lithium is a metal crucial to GM's plans to make more affordable, higher mileage electric vehicles. The relationship between GM and CTR is expected to accelerate the adoption of lithium extraction methods that cause less impact to the environment. A significant amount of GM's future battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate could come from CTR's Hell's Kitchen Lithium and Power development in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, located in Imperial, California.

Volkswagen is participating, with a contribution of US$620 million (about €500 million), in a financing round of its Swedish battery partner Northvolt AB with a total volume of US$2.75 billion. The Group will thus maintain its stake in the company constant at about 20 percent. The funds are to be used for capacity expansion in the fields of production, recycling and research and development. Among other activities, Northvolt intends to expand the capacity of its Northvolt Ett gigafactory in Skellefteå, Northern Sweden from 40 GWh to 60 GWh per year, in order to meet higher demand from customers.

Stellantis NV  announced that its First Half 2021 Results will be released on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. A live audio webcast and conference call of the H1 2021 Results will begin at 3:00 p.m. CEST / 9:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, August 3, 2021.

Legal Disclaimer / Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. NEO Battery Materials Ltd.has paid three thousand five hundred dollars for advertising and marketing services to be distributed by Winning Media. Winning Media is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Winning Media owns ZERO shares of NEO Battery Materials Ltd.Please click here for full disclaimer.

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