Tesla threw a party for the locals to celebrate the upcoming start of production at its Berlin Gigafactory. Kids of all ages dug the carnival rides, the giant Tesla coils shootin’ out sparks, and the obligatory pumpin’ sound-and-light show. For techies, however, the star of the show was Tesla’s new structural battery pack. A cutaway… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "recycling "
Ford unveils big plans for an EV factory and 3 battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky
Here at Charged, we don’t usually repeat superlative claims—“the first, the biggest, the fastest”—we leave those to the Guinness Book of Records. In this case, however, we’ll make an exception. Ford says its plan to build two new manufacturing complexes in Tennessee and Kentucky represents “the largest ever manufacturing investment at one time by any… Read more »
Tesla co-founder JB Straubel’s company to produce battery materials in US
Redwood Materials, the battery recycling venture founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, came out of stealth mode last year, and announced that it is recycling scrap from Panasonic’s battery cell production at Tesla’s Gigafactory Nevada. In July, it raised $700 million in new investment. Now Redwood has dropped a bit of a bombshell: it… Read more »
Faraday Battery Challenge to fund 17 new tech projects
The Faraday Battery Challenge, a project initiated by the UK government to promote advanced battery technologies, has announced a new £10-million round of funding, which will be shared across 17 projects being undertaken by businesses and research institutions across the UK. The funded projects cover a wide range of topics, including a new sodium nickel… Read more »
US seeks to build a domestic supply chain for critical minerals, Australia touts its mineral resources
EV fans may be frustrated with the US government’s lukewarm support for electrification, but at least it can be said that the administration understands the importance of establishing a domestic supply chain for batteries and critical minerals. As Reuters reports, the DOE is channeling funds into R&D spanning the materials spectrum, from primary processing to… Read more »
Tesla’s Impact Report details environmental footprint of its products
Nowadays, many companies offer an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impact report, in addition to the traditional annual report. Consistent with its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, Tesla has released a 2020 Impact Report that’s thorough and detailed, describing the company’s efforts to minimize its environmental footprint across every aspect of… Read more »
New paper examines environmental impact of brine-based lithium extraction
A new paper from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) analyzes the process of extracting lithium from brine. In “Energy, Greenhouse Gas, and Water Life Cycle Analysis of Lithium Carbonate and Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate from Brine and Ore Resources and Their Use in Lithium Ion Battery Cathodes and Lithium Ion Batteries,” published in the journal Resources, Conservation… Read more »
Using bacteria to recover precious metals from EV batteries
Researchers at Coventry University have developed a new solution for recycling EV batteries by recovering all metals in them using a process called bioleaching. Bioleaching, also known as biomining, employs microbes that can oxidize metals as part of their metabolism. The process has been widely used in the mining industry to extract valuable metals from… Read more »
EconCore develops new honeycomb core panels for battery protection and EV applications
EconCore has developed new honeycomb cores for laminated sandwich panels made with SABIC’s NORYL GTX resin. The new honeycomb core is designed to provide higher heat performance, better dimensional stability and lower water absorption compared to honeycomb structures made with traditional thermoplastics. SABIC says the new core material can be used in EV applications and,… Read more »
Li-Cycle and Ultium Cells partner to recycle battery manufacturing scrap
Li-Cycle, the developer of a novel battery recycling system, has announced an agreement with Ultium Cells, a joint venture of GM and LG Energy Solution, to recycle up to 100% of the scrap generated by battery cell manufacturing at Ultium’s Lordstown, Ohio mega-factory. Using its patented Spoke & Hub Technologies at facilities in the US,… Read more »