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AD #3659 - Big Money In Battery Storage; Converting Wood Waste into Graphite; EVs Are Tool and Die Bonanza

AD #3659 - Big Money In Battery Storage; Converting Wood Waste into Graphite; EVs Are Tool and Die Bonanza

Autoline Daily Sep 29, 2023 10 min
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About this episode

The discussion highlights major shifts in the automotive and energy sectors, focusing on innovations in battery technology and storage. Companies like Novion and Nanoterotech are pioneering sustainable graphite production from petroleum coke and wood waste, reducing reliance on China. Battery storage systems are gaining traction, supported by incentives and profitability demonstrated by firms like One and Tesla. The episode also covers increased tooling investments for new vehicle models, software leadership rankings favoring American and Chinese automakers, and the growing importance of EV battery recycling. Additionally, it addresses the decline of gas stations amid rising EV charging infrastructure and the life-saving potential of widespread adoption of advanced driver assistance systems.

Topics: battery technology synthetic graphite production sustainable graphite from wood battery storage systems tooling investments automaker software capabilities ev battery recycling decline of gas stations advanced driver assistance systems electric vehicle infrastructure
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This is Autolyne Daily If. The show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive
industry living in the Detroit area. The North American International Auto Show has always
been a big deal, but as a member of the media, it felt like unless you were forced to go, there was really no reason to go to the Detroit Show. This year, there was no energy. The real
party was at the Battery Show in Novai, Michigan, which is about forty minutes outside of the motor city. This was a showcase of all the latest
and greatest electric technologies, and you may have seen our videos of John cruising the floor. One of the big things I took away from the Battery Show
is that we should quickly start seeing other countries reduce their dependence on China for battery materials. Graphite is a major part of a battery, making up thirty
percent of its total materials, but right now over eighty percent of the world's graphite comes from China. So a company called a Novion is bringing production of
synthetic graphite to North America. It takes petroleum coke, which is a waste
product from the fossil fuel refining process, and in ten to fifteen steps turns it into battery grade graphite. A Noovian says its process is about sixty percent
less carbon intensive than the way most Chinese companies make graphite. It's already building
its first plant in Georgia and says it wants two more. But we also
learned of another more sustainable way to make graphite. A company called Nanoterotech,
which is based in Canada, showed us how it can make graphite from wood.
It takes the waste from sawmills, the sawdust, the bark, the stuff they don't want, and then turns it into what it calls biographite.
Nanoterotech says biographite is a direct replacement for synthetic or natural graphite, and its process can be done completely with renewable energy. And because I know you want
to know, the wood to graphite ratio is four to one. So for
example, if you had two hundred thousand tons of wood waste, you would get fifty thousand tons of graphite back. Another sense I got from the battery
show is that we're going to start seeing a lot more battery storage. Our
next Energy or One was showing off its three and a half megawatt hour grid storage system. Now you might remember that name. We had their founder on
a recent autoline after Hours talking mostly about their unique battery technology for evs.
It's an interesting watch that I'd recommend. But One is also piling forty five
of its aries LFP packs, which it normally supplies for commercial vehicles, and is creating these grid storage systems. The idea is to use wind and solar
to charge up the batteries and then that could be used for a number of things like charging up evs or selling electricity back to the grid during high demand when prices are also high. And I think we got a little insight as
to why we could see more of these systems. One says the IRA provides
more incentives for stationary storage than it does for automotive and the ability to make money off this is another driving force. Tesla has shown through its Auto Bitter
service, which uses AI to trade electricity stored in its energy assets like stationary storage, that it can then turn into a good profit. And I don't
think it's any coincidence that One's first bridge storage client is Berkshire Hathaway. Now
I know it may seem like I went into great detail, but there's a lot more to learn. I only scratch the surface on how the IRA could
have a big impact on each of these companies. And we also produced another
nine videos on top of this, so if you'd like to check that out, we'll provide a link to the playlist. The Taging Automotive Technologies we combine
world class composite materials expertise with cutting edge designs because frankly, there are better ways to lightweight vehicles, so lighten up with Taging Automotive Technologies the formula for better mobility. Good news for tool and die companies in North America. According
to a study from Harbor Results and Autofoecast Solutions, automakers will significantly boost spending on tooling in the next few years to help support the introduction of new models.
Tool and die companies have been struggling the last three years, but the study says tools spending will hit seven billion dollars in twenty twenty five, up from five billion dollars last year. Automakers plan to introduce one hundred and thirty
new models between now and twenty thirty, and they'll convert or build fifty six plants to produce those vehicles, but most of the tooling investment will still go towards internal combustion vehicles, and the research are skeptical that automakers will hit their EV targets in the coming years because of high costs, a poor charging infrastructure, and range anxiety. Which automakers are the best at writing software? The
Americans and the Chinese are. That's according to an index created by Gartner,
a consulting firm. It calls it the Digital Automaker Index, and it studies
the software capabilities of automakers in eight different areas including leadership, talent, corporate culture, architecture, connected vehicle autonomy, electrification, smart cockpits, and online sales. And not surprisingly, Tesla tops the list. It's followed by Neo
and xpung, then Cumrivian, Lucid, General Motors, Glean, Ford, VW and Mercedes are in the top ten, but the Japanese and the Koreans are at the very bottom of the list. The recycling of EV batteries is
still in its early days, but there's growing global interests because it's already profitable.
NMC batteries, or ones with nickel, manganese and cobalt, contain an average of ten thousand dollars worth of materials. For every ton of battery cell
weight, ALFP batteries or lithium iron phosphate have about four thousand dollars worth of materials. According to a company called fast Markets that tracks commodity prices, SMP
Global Commodity Insights is forecasting that battery recycling will provide eleven percent of all the lithium, eleven percent of the nickel, and forty four percent of the cobalt needed to make new batteries by the end of this decade. Battery recycling companies
like Serba and life Cycle have told Autoline that in a couple of decades, recycling could replace a significant amount of raw material mining. As public ev charging
stations pop up all across the US and Europe, the number of gas stations is falling fast. According to DBRs morning Star, which is a credit ratings
company, the number of gas stations in the US and the UK have fallen thirty five percent since the year two thousand and There are now sixty five thousand fewer gas stations in the US than there were in the nineteen nineties. Morning
Star says gas station owners could face a lot more competition than they did before.
Many ev owners are installing home chargers, Companies like Walmart are installing public chargers. Many automakers are licensing Tesla's supercharger network, and seven automakers are joining
forces to develop their own charging network. So morning Star says gas station operators
need to evolve and offer more services to remain competitive. If advanced driver assistance
systems or eights were made standard equipment across the industry, it could save hundreds of thousands of lives. According to a study funded by the Triple with research
performed by the University of North Carolina, eight s technology like automatic emergency breaking and other warnings could prevent up to two hundred and fifty thousand deaths over the next thirty years in the US. It could also prevent another thirty seven million
crashes and fourteen million injuries over the same period. But to get those benefits,
more vehicles need to be equipped with the technology. Currently, only about
a quarter of registered vehicles have automatic emergency breaking or blind spot warnings. By
twenty twenty seven, that's expected to increase to about half of all vehicles.
The Triple A also says there's confusion with drivers on how to properly use eight S technology, and more needs to be done to educate drivers on how to use it. That's it for today, Thanks for watching, have a great
weekend. Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your journey intrepid
control Systems over the year Engineering boost your game, Scheffler we Pioneer Motion and by Tajin Automotive Technologies the formula for better mobility. We want to know what
drives your testing. OTA Connected Car Diagnostics Remote Testing in trepid control systems is
here to help you work from anywhere in trepid control systems, driven by your data. At Schiffler, we pioneer Motion, electrifying mobility, manufacturing smart,
reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean. Scheffler Pioneer's Motion to advance
how the world moves. Wards is the industry leader for news, data and
analysis. That's why companies across the globe subscribe to our premium service. Maybe
even your own log in for subscriber access. Now check your company's Internet for
details and rely Onwards Auto dot com to keep you informed.

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