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Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

China cracks cheap lithium production in electric car breakthrough

Author:     Stephen Chen
Source:    
Publication Date:     14 May 2019
 Link: China cracks cheap lithium production in electric car breakthrough
Stephan:   If this report is accurate, and the South China Morning Post has a good reputation for accuracy on non-political subjects, it is a huge game-changing deal.  It will transform the transportation industry to the benefit of China and the detriment of the United States. Trump's anti-science, anti-climate change positions, and his penchant for trade wars virtually guarantees the decline of America. Electric car and truck engines are much simpler and easier to manufacture. The obstacle to making them quickly universal has been the cost of the batteries. China now seems capable of dropping the price by orders of magnitude.

Chinese electric taxis
credit: South China Morning Post

The production of lithium – an essential ingredient in batteries for electric cars – has become easier and significantly cheaper, thanks to a technological breakthrough, just as US concerns about China’s dominance in the supply chain are on the rise.

The cost of extracting the mineral has been slashed to a “record low” of 15,000 yuan (US$2,180) per tonne by the new process, a Chinese government report said.

That compares to an international price for lithium ranging from US$12,000 to US$20,000 per tonne – and a long-term contract price of about US$17,000 – over the past year, according to some industrial estimates.

The precise production costs of lithium are a closely guarded business secret, but industry insiders interviewed by the South China Morning Post agreed that the […]

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2 Comments

  1. Rev. Dean on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at 12:18 pm

    And now with Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products, we will not get the benefit of the better prices on Lithium. China will move way ahead of us in the ever-changing world of electric cars which will be the way that the world moves now.

  2. will on Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at 4:28 am

    I do hope the recycling technology catches up with this huge increase in lithium battery usage. So far once again new tech creates old tech problems then it is off to the land fill. In my future world people will be mining landfills for fun and profit that is if in fifty years we have not choked on our stuff.