Instead of all this crap going on about submissions to a Covid 19 Investigation... We need to get building car battery plants. French will have 3 or 4 in the next few years, the USA is also forgoing ahead.. ATM all I have heard of is Jaguar/Rover (Indian owned) likely to go ahead. The Northumberland one is a none starter. Our Car Industry depends on on...C'mon little Rishi get your finger out. UK Gigafactory Roadmap: What does the UK need to do? A realistic goal: To be a serious industrial player in this electric vehicle and lithium ion economy, the UK needs to enter 2030 with 175GWh of battery cell capacity, ideally from a minimum of: 3 active gigafactories from tier one lithium ion battery makers 1 active gigafactory from a UK start up company Written evidence from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BEV0010) Total gigafactory capacity going in to 2030s should be at least 175GWh (2.6m EVs worth of battery cells) focusing on NCM and LFP chemistries For context: Benchmark is forecasting that the following regions will have the annual lithium ion battery capacities by 2030: China 5,448GWh; Europe (excluding UK) 1,158GWh, and USA 978GWh As an example: 175GWh/year of battery capacity (NCM chemistry) would require the following tonnages of raw materials: 210,000 tonnes graphite anode, 140,000 tonnes lithium (LCE), 142,000 tonnes nickel, 20,000 tonnes cobalt, 18,000 tonnes manganese A combination o fboth NCM and LFP technologies would reduce the tonnages of some raw materials needed (namely nickel, cobalt, manganese), and increase the market opportunity in the nascent but growing energy storage market with a wider offering of different battery types at different market prices For the coming decade, there is no doubt an industry needs to be built around the electric vehicle opportunity, however considering the UK’s position in wind energy, this major market opportunity to pair this with lithium ion battery capacity must also be captured The UK should have a battery raw material ,cathode and anode strategy to support this gigafactory build out and ensure the maintaining of knowledge and the creation of domestic battery materials complexes (where economically possible) are established to feed this growing industry The UK should also have long term raw material supply agreements with friendly countries that are dominant in the upstream of this EV supply chain such as: Lithium: Argentina, Australia, Chile, Canada Nickel: Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Brazil Graphite: Canada, Madagascar, Mozambique Cobalt: DRC, Indonesia Manganese: South Africa, Australia, Brazil Theshiftfromamajorityofcombustionenginestoelectricvehicleswillbedramaticandoneofthe greatest technological disruptions of our time yet the UK is woefully behind on building an industrial strategy centred on this Any Lithium ion economic industrial strategy would a) protect the UK’s automotive industry from further disruption, b) capture the value from an already existing talent and knowledge pool to c) create a new forward facing 21st century industrial engine The UK is one of the world’s leading educational and research centres of battery technology, yet there is a significant gap between this educational excellence and wide-spread commercialisation In short we are missing the middle: we are very good at education, research and creating start up companies in the UK, but have a lack of larger companies and corporations that can industrialise this opportunity Our large chemicals and technology companies have a duty to be significantly investing in some aspect of scaling the lithium ion battery and EV supply chain rather than sitting idly by through fear of shareholder retribution and lack of true understanding of the lithium ion opportunity ahead
One of the best posts I've seen on here. As a tiny country we had a ridiculously disproportionate manufacturing base that's all been thrown away ... not just slipped away by accident, we put it all in a sack, took it down to the cut and drowned it. We made machinery, cars, motorbikes, created our own power, built massive ships, made steel, etc. All of that was balanced by the creativity, the inventions, ghe music, the arts and the banking, insurance, stocks, etc. We're now heading down a road whereby we're hoping we can cling onto the latter ... ... much like the French believed their wine production would always rule the world
Great post and very informative. You have missed out the massive 12GWh Gigafactory being built by Envision AESC but yeah there are more important things to be focusing on than the covid investigation. All for advancing EV however there is still no real answer to where some of us are meant to charge up vehicles. I live in an apartment so it’s a complete non starter.
Yes, we have three cars, a diesel, a petrol and a petrol hybrid. The hybrid is charged in a garage. Atm I reckon electric cars are too expensive and not enough range. Then as you say, what happens if you live in a block of flats or a house where you have to park your car on a road? There are certainly not enough charging points and like the batteries, govt is doing fvuk all about it. Too tied up in their own crap nonsense.
Tremendous post. I agree. We are faffing about instead of being pro-active. My alter ego tells me electric cars are not the answer. But I fundamentally agree with your assessment as of today.
Well I thought it could be hydrogen, use the existing petrol stations and 'fill-up' quicker than electric charging. Hydrogen takes a lot of electric power to produce...
So a major funder to Just Stop Oil claimed 300k in furlough from the government and also donated 770k to the Labour party. Nothing to see here.
It's a vicious cycle. The petrol companies are the ones who need to build the electric car infrastructure - charging stations etc. But they aren't. They've already got what they consider to be a perfectly good network without needing to spend anything on electric charging. Then there's grid connectivity out in the sticks. Oil and gas will be needed for many decades to come unfortunately. However I don't think it would be a bad idea for a government to create its own Shell, or BP, build the infrastructure of the future, but it's all about not spending now.
https://news.sky.com/story/labour-m...to-police-for-alleged-sexual-assault-12895013 Speaking of protecting people....
The whole culture in Westminster is disgraceful, these MPs are meant to represent the public and any accusation should be investigated. Anyone accused should be suspended immediately on full pay, sacked if proven guilty and returned to the post if not. Saying that I’m not sure what the party can do if the victim decides that the police should not investigate. It must be an absolute minefield for HR when there is so much backstabbing going on.
Another attention seeking knacker rightly put on the front pages. Sadly it shows how wasteful and scattergun the furlough scheme was, various conmen jumped straight onto it ... ... they probably even gave it to companies producing unusable PPE
Furlough was Sunak’s doing, so was PPE, so was Eat to Help Wetherspoons and I’m certain we’ll find more issues when the WhatsApp’s appear
I don’t understand this. Is she saying beyond the bloke suspended there’s another who’s been reported but no action taken ?
As soon as they said they'd be paying people not to work we all knew what would happen. The government were just too lazy to be specific and put proper checks in place ... .... or knew many of their mates would benefit. The cost was enormous.
It’s badly written, I think she is talking about the same person who further down told the police not to investigate. That’s how I read it anyway.
