Category Archives: Tesla

Benchmark hails overwhelming reaction to Senate hearing on energy, EV supply chains

Batteries, Cobalt, EV, Graphite, Lithium, Megafactory, Tesla

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has welcomed the overwhelming reaction to the US Senate hearing on Tuesday 5 February in Washington, DC, which focused on electric vehicle and energy storage supply chains. Led by Chairman Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the hearing was the first of the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in the 116th Congress. The … Continue reading Benchmark hails overwhelming reaction to Senate hearing on energy, EV supply chains →

Who is winning the global lithium ion battery arms race?

Batteries, BYD, CATL, China, Energy storage, EV, Gigafactory, LG Chem, Megafactory, Panasonic, Tesla

The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) has caused upheaval in the lithium ion battery industry. Before Elon Musk announced Tesla’s intention to build the world’s biggest lithium ion battery plant, The Gigafactory 1, lithium ion batteries were somewhat of a cottage industry geared to supplying a mobile consumer market for smartphones, laptops, and power-tools. As … Continue reading Who is winning the global lithium ion battery arms race? →

DOWNLOAD: Lithium, cobalt prices enter new period of volatility as era of EV begins; vanadium awaits lithium ion moment

Batteries, China, Cobalt, EV, Gigafactory, Graphite, Lithium, Tesla, , , , , , , , , ,

Lithium and cobalt prices are experiencing a new period of volatility as prices crest from post-2010 highs. Both speciality minerals that are key components in an electric vehicle’s lithium ion battery began to see a downward turn in 2018. The Benchmark World Tour 2018 – the world’s leading investor forum for lithium ion supply chain … Continue reading DOWNLOAD: Lithium, cobalt prices enter new period of volatility as era of EV begins; vanadium awaits lithium ion moment →

Rise of the lithium ion battery megafactories: what does 2018 hold?

Announcements, Batteries, Benchmark, Gigafactory, Megafactory, Tesla

Since Benchmark Mineral Intelligence coined the term Battery Megafactory in 2014 the landscape of the lithium ion battery industry has changed significantly. Early on, Benchmark noticed a step change in the way battery supply and demand was developing and the corresponding growth in the size of planned cell production plants on a multi-gigawatt scale. These … Continue reading Rise of the lithium ion battery megafactories: what does 2018 hold? →

China’s battery push and Elon Musk’s Tesla – Benchmark quoted in Bloomberg article

Batteries, Supply Chain, Tesla

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence was recently quoted in an article written by Bloomberg News renewable energy correspondent, Joe Ryan. The article focuses on lithium-ion battery production in China, and in particular how despite Elon Musk and Tesla attracting many of the headlines, their plans modest when compared to China. By 2020 installed lithium-ion cell production capacity … Continue reading China’s battery push and Elon Musk’s Tesla – Benchmark quoted in Bloomberg article →

Bigger than Giga: Tesla’s plan for 3 more battery megafactories

Cobalt, Gigafactory, Graphite, Lithium, Tesla

Tesla’s latest financial results not only painted a rosy picture for the clean energy crusader in 2016 but also hinted at significant future infrastructure expansions putting further strain on already stretched raw material markets. In January production of Tesla’s new 2170 cell – which will be used in energy storage as well as the Model … Continue reading Bigger than Giga: Tesla’s plan for 3 more battery megafactories →

Tesla faces raw material reality with expanded Gigafactory

Batteries, Gigafactory, Tesla

Speakers announced: Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November, Newport Beach, CA, US. Click here: Early Bird Delegate Rate Ends Soon. Tesla opened its Gigafactory a few weeks ago to the surprising, if casual, announcement by Elon Musk that the Gigafactory will be three times the original 50GWh planned capacity. The company explained that the lithium ion battery … Continue reading Tesla faces raw material reality with expanded Gigafactory →

Elon Musk: Our lithium ion batteries should be called Nickel-Graphite…

Gigafactory, Graphite, Lithium, Tesla, Uncategorised

… Yet Tesla executives fail to allay lithium shortage fears // Tesla CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel have attempted to play down the role of lithium in a lithium ion battery, but could have inadvertently given themselves further supply headaches. In response to a question of whether there is enough lithium supply, Musk … Continue reading Elon Musk: Our lithium ion batteries should be called Nickel-Graphite… →

Tesla will need a lot of graphite & lithium (but China will need more)

Batteries, Powerwall, Tesla

Battery grade graphite and lithium demand could surge if pre-orders of Tesla Motors’ Model 3 are any indicator of sales between 2017 and 2021. Orders for Model 3 – which there is very little information on at the present, including the battery size – today reached 325,000 units. Analysts expected Tesla to secure between 30,000 … Continue reading Tesla will need a lot of graphite & lithium (but China will need more) →

Gigafactory: 30% of output for Tesla Energy utility batteries

Batteries, Gigafactory, Tesla

One third of the lithium-ion battery packs produced at Tesla Motors’ Gigafactory in Nevada will be destined for the utility market. Tesla’s utility storage division, Tesla Energy, has recently started shipping Powerwall, a battery pack for the home, and Powerpack, a commercial storage solution, to customers in US, Germany and Australia. While no information has … Continue reading Gigafactory: 30% of output for Tesla Energy utility batteries →