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China is home and dry in the EV battery race
Updated - June 21, 2023 at 09:26 PM.
For India to make some progress, there is no option but to co-operate with China on EVs and the components that go into manufacturing them
BY HARRY BAJAJ
It is estimated that by 2030, China will make twice as many batteries as every other country combined
It is estimated that by 2030, China will make twice as many batteries as every other country combined | Photo Credit: Fahroni
Gone are the days when the world’s major powers would compete for state-of-the-art military hardware to establish their supremacy. While they may yet be doing so, today, power is defined by economically powerful nations’ ability to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. This capability, among other things, of course, will settle which of the major countries are able to solidify economic and geopolitical advantages in the future.
It is estimated that China will make — by as early as 2030 — “twice as many batteries as every other country combined” and part of this immense capability is the outcome of the ways in which it “controls each step of lithium-ion battery production”, be it procuring raw materials from the earth’s belly to making electric cars.
According to CRU Group, a business intelligence company, China commands 41 per cent of the world’s cobalt and 28 per cent of lithium. Studies have shown quite conclusively that electric cars use “six times more rare minerals than conventional cars because of the battery”. The most telling aspect of the power asymmetry is that “China gets to decide who gets the minerals first and at what price”. That is more than half the battle won.
This Chinese expansion — a silent one at that — began when it surreptitiously, and at times openly, crept into some of the mineral-rich African countries in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While China’s underground deposits of raw materials are few, the penetration into Africa and mine the depths of the oceans was part of a long-term strategy to effectively tap into cheap and steady supplies.
Grip on minerals
China’s grip on refining rare minerals is near total. It refines 95 per cent manganese, 73 per cent cobalt, 70s per cent graphite, 67 per cent lithium and 63 per cent nickel. As for the components that go into manufacturing EV batteries, China makes most of them: 77 per cent cathodes, 92 per cent anodes, 74 per cent separators and 83 per cent electrolytes. China also makes a bulk of an alternative form of cathodes which are made using LFP or lithium iron phosphate.
Where does India stand in comparison to this gigantic Chinese EV battery supremacy? A short answer is: nowhere. Over the last month or so, there were reports of discovery of lithium reserves in Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan but there is no real evidence of the volume that might remain buried deep inside the earth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government made its intentions on a well-defined EV policy clear in 2020. More recently, there have been recommendations on banning diesel-powered four-wheelers in Indian cities with a million-plus population by 2027, which in another way of saying that India must adopt EVs at a rapid pace.
But a slew of pragmatic decisions — encouraging partnerships with countries that have untapped rare minerals mines, training and refashioning generations of specialised engineers, extensive charging networks, capital-intensive research, consumer subsidies, driving businesses to go beyond Indian borders to prospect for mines and minerals — will be crucial if India is to remain or, in the least, join the global EV race.
Updated - June 21, 2023 at 09:26 PM.
For India to make some progress, there is no option but to co-operate with China on EVs and the components that go into manufacturing them
BY HARRY BAJAJ
It is estimated that by 2030, China will make twice as many batteries as every other country combined
It is estimated that by 2030, China will make twice as many batteries as every other country combined | Photo Credit: Fahroni
Gone are the days when the world’s major powers would compete for state-of-the-art military hardware to establish their supremacy. While they may yet be doing so, today, power is defined by economically powerful nations’ ability to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. This capability, among other things, of course, will settle which of the major countries are able to solidify economic and geopolitical advantages in the future.
It is estimated that China will make — by as early as 2030 — “twice as many batteries as every other country combined” and part of this immense capability is the outcome of the ways in which it “controls each step of lithium-ion battery production”, be it procuring raw materials from the earth’s belly to making electric cars.
According to CRU Group, a business intelligence company, China commands 41 per cent of the world’s cobalt and 28 per cent of lithium. Studies have shown quite conclusively that electric cars use “six times more rare minerals than conventional cars because of the battery”. The most telling aspect of the power asymmetry is that “China gets to decide who gets the minerals first and at what price”. That is more than half the battle won.
This Chinese expansion — a silent one at that — began when it surreptitiously, and at times openly, crept into some of the mineral-rich African countries in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While China’s underground deposits of raw materials are few, the penetration into Africa and mine the depths of the oceans was part of a long-term strategy to effectively tap into cheap and steady supplies.
Grip on minerals
China’s grip on refining rare minerals is near total. It refines 95 per cent manganese, 73 per cent cobalt, 70s per cent graphite, 67 per cent lithium and 63 per cent nickel. As for the components that go into manufacturing EV batteries, China makes most of them: 77 per cent cathodes, 92 per cent anodes, 74 per cent separators and 83 per cent electrolytes. China also makes a bulk of an alternative form of cathodes which are made using LFP or lithium iron phosphate.
Where does India stand in comparison to this gigantic Chinese EV battery supremacy? A short answer is: nowhere. Over the last month or so, there were reports of discovery of lithium reserves in Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan but there is no real evidence of the volume that might remain buried deep inside the earth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government made its intentions on a well-defined EV policy clear in 2020. More recently, there have been recommendations on banning diesel-powered four-wheelers in Indian cities with a million-plus population by 2027, which in another way of saying that India must adopt EVs at a rapid pace.
But a slew of pragmatic decisions — encouraging partnerships with countries that have untapped rare minerals mines, training and refashioning generations of specialised engineers, extensive charging networks, capital-intensive research, consumer subsidies, driving businesses to go beyond Indian borders to prospect for mines and minerals — will be crucial if India is to remain or, in the least, join the global EV race.
