Ternary lithium battery low cobalt is expected

Due to the detection of excessive radioactive uranium in the ore, the international mining giant Glencore recently decided to suspend the export of its cobalt ore in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (hereinafter referred to as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), leading to a rebound in international cobalt prices. IHSMarkit market consulting agency predicts that this will lead to a rapid rebound in battery raw material prices by about 30%. In recent years, as the global electric vehicle market continues to heat up, the demand for ternary lithium batteries has increased significantly. Cobalt is one of the important cathode materials in ternary lithium batteries, but resources are scarce, and the price has been rising since 2017. On the one hand, cobalt prices continue to rise, and on the other hand, subsidies are gradually receding. The 'high nickel and low cobalt' cathode materials for ternary lithium batteries have become an inevitable development trend. Following the development of low-cobalt batteries by Panasonic and Tesla, recently, chemical giants BASF and Johnson Matthey stated that a new battery technology can significantly reduce the cobalt content. Cobalt prices are rising, and supply is difficult to guarantee. After Glencore announced that its cobalt mine in the Congo (DRC) has suspended exports due to excessive uranium content, Capital Investment Macro Research immediately released a report predicting that this will make cobalt prices in 2019 It reached 70,000 US dollars per ton in the middle of the year. An analyst from Capital Investment Macros pointed out: “In view of the progress of this incident, we are raising our short-term forecasts for cobalt prices. By the middle of next year, the cobalt market will be more tense than we expected.” Capital Investment Macros expects cobalt. Prices will rise further, reaching US$80,000 per ton by the end of 2020, mainly due to the growth in battery demand. So far this year, Glencore has produced 25,700 tons of cobalt in its mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In July of this year, the company said that it expected its annual output to reach 40,000 tons by the end of the first quarter of 2019. This figure accounts for 1/3 of global production. Congo (DRC) produces more than 60% of global cobalt, and this proportion will continue to rise in the next five years. Reducing the cobalt content in the ternary battery will help reduce dependence on Congo (Golden) cobalt ore. The political turmoil in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the country’s illegal use of child labor and poor mining working conditions, have also caused headaches for multinational companies, including automakers such as BMW and Volkswagen Group that have business and commercial relations with the country. . At present, the supply chain end of the above-mentioned multinational companies is under strict scrutiny by the domestic regulatory authorities. From 20% to 10% to 4% As new energy vehicles are in the ascendant in many regions of the world, the purchase price of cobalt has risen, which has become a constraint on the development of new energy vehicles. Many automobile manufacturers and battery companies are developing new technologies in an attempt to reduce the proportion of cobalt in ternary lithium battery materials. At present, the ratio of nickel-cobalt-manganese/aluminum for ternary lithium battery cathode materials on the market is mostly 5:2:3 or 6:2:2. Industry insiders pointed out that in the future, the ratio of nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum for ternary lithium battery cathode materials will develop towards 8:1:1. Recently, Kenner Sahin, a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a technology entrepreneur, said that he and his Ru0026D team have developed an innovative technology for lithium-ion batteries, which can reduce the content of cobalt in lithium-ion batteries. He invented a new material that can reduce the proportion of cobalt in the positive electrode of lithium batteries from nearly 20% to 4%, thereby greatly reducing the cost of electric vehicles. According to Kenner Sahin, the lithium-ion battery technology he has developed can improve the performance of electric vehicles in the next few years. The main feature of the above technological innovation is to reduce the use of cobalt, so it can reduce costs and