China has developed a revolutionary car battery that can be charged in just 10 minutes and run the car for hundreds of miles before it needs to be plugged in.
A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) praised “remarkable” advances in chemistry that have allowed China to develop new batteries that contain far more energy than current technologies.
The International Energy Agency highlighted electric car batteries capable of traveling 250 miles without recharging. Newer versions announced since the report was written can manage 600 miles.
However, the agency has sounded the alarm about China’s growing dominance of supplies of critical materials needed to build batteries. The state’s grip on supply chains means that net zero launches globally could be disrupted by “extreme weather, trade disputes or geopolitics”.
The IEA’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook highlighted that Chinese battery company CATL has developed a fast-charging “Shenxing” battery “capable of providing a range of up to 400 kilometers from a ten-minute charge.” The IEA said the battery will be introduced in electric cars later this year.
The report was written before CATL’s recent announcement last month that it had developed a new battery, the Shenxing Plus, capable of going 600 miles between recharges.
This means that the new Chinese battery-powered cars will need to refuel much less frequently than most current electric cars and at a fraction of the cost.
The report said that China has achieved a series of achievements in battery chemistry, making it far ahead of its competitors in the West.
“One of the most notable developments in the global battery sector in the past five years is the return of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode chemistry,” she said.
This is a reference to innovations that have eliminated dead space in batteries, nearly doubling energy density and dramatically extending range.
The breakthrough is likely to be welcomed by drivers, who have long complained of “range anxiety” with electric cars.
However, the IEA report warned that China has controlled a significant portion of the global market for minerals vital to making batteries, a fact that will alarm many Western governments concerned about Beijing’s grip on the green energy market.
The IEA report looked at the global supply, demand and uses of minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and copper – all of which are becoming increasingly vital for low-carbon energy production.
Supplies of most of these minerals are increasing, but the International Energy Agency said that China dominates the markets.
Electric car batteries rely on several metals. For example, cathodes generally include nickel, lithium, manganese, cobalt, and iron compounds, while anodes typically contain graphite and silicon compounds.
The International Energy Agency said that China now dominates global supplies of all these minerals. “More than 90% of the graphite used in batteries and 77% of the rare earth elements refined in 2030 will come from China,” she said.
He added: “Between now and 2030, 70-75% of the expected growth in supplies of refined lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements comes from today’s top three producers. For spherical and synthetic battery-grade graphite, approximately 95% of the growth comes from from China.
“These high levels of supply concentration pose a risk to the speed of energy transitions, because they make supply chains and routes more vulnerable to disruption, whether due to extreme weather, trade disputes or geopolitics.”
The report stated that China’s global dominance in electric cars is the product of its huge domestic market and the subsidies provided to consumers to purchase them. It revealed that 60% of all electric cars sold globally went to Chinese buyers last year.
Much of China’s success has been due to the deployment of new technologies that have given electric vehicles much greater range and faster charging times without significantly increasing battery size. This has helped overcome the “range anxiety” that has long deterred European motorists from switching to electric cars.
The IEA study pointed to Chinese dominance across a range of other minerals and related technologies vital to the energy transition. For example, 90% of the global supply of solar panels comes from China.
The country also dominates electrolyzers, which are used to produce hydrogen from water. Wind turbines and associated infrastructure such as transformers and cables – all of which rely on the same set of metals – showed the same trend.
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