Category Archives: Tesla

Vivas Kumar joins Benchmark Minerals from Tesla

Supply Chain, Tesla

Released: 08 April 2019 |

LONDON, UK | Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (Benchmark Minerals) is delighted to announce that Vivas Kumar has been appointed Principal Consultant. Vivas joins from Tesla, one of the world’s foremost electric vehicle (EV) and lithium ion battery producers.

Vivas was responsible for building Tesla’s lithium ion battery supply chain from May 2017 to April 2019, where he sourced a multi-billion dollar yearly spend portfolio of battery metals and chemicals, as the Gigafactory 1 scaled to become the world’s biggest battery plant and the Model 3 launched.… Read more

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 Senators heard as Benchmark’s Managing Director, Simon Moores, issued a red alert on the lithium ion battery supply chain and the raw materials of lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite and warned the highest tier of US government that its country is presently a ‘bystander’ in this ‘global battery arms race’.… Read more

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 we firmly settle into the 21st Century, the lithium ion battery industry has become one of the most critical globally as its role in the energy storage revolution becomes more and more apparent.… Read more

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 and in its 4th year – explored these themes in Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney over the last two weeks. Download presentations from the Benchmark World Tour below.… Read more

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 larger facilities, with a capacity of producing 1GWh or more of cells per year (megafactories) were to become the new standard for the industry.

At the time, there were only three planned plants, Tesla’s Gigafactory in the US, LG Chem’s plant in Nanjing, China and Foxconn’s plant in Anhui, China which didn’t make it off the drawing board.… Read more

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 in of China’s megafactories* alone will exceed 160 GWh, in comparison Tesla’s gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada will have 35GWh capacity.

The article quotes Benchmarks, Simon Moores and can be viewed here in the June section of our In the Media page.… Read more

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 3 – started at the Gigafactory 1, and despite the building not being completed Tesla is already looking to secure locations of future plants by the end of 2017.… Read more

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 plant, through its dense layout which was designed through Computer Aided Design, has allowed it to significantly boost capacity to 150GWh. To make matters more challenging for its supply chain, Tesla expects to have 50GWh worth of operating capacity by 2018 – 35GWh of which is anticipated to be from cells made in the Nevada-based facility.… Read more

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 diverted it onto two other key battery raw materials of nickel and graphite in an attempt to allay fears that there will not be enough lithium for an operational Gigafactory, which is set to become world’s largest lithium ion battery plant.… Read more

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 to 60,000 orders on day one of Model 3 availability, however expectations were comfortably beaten when Elon Musk revealed 115,000 orders at the end of the official launch.… Read more