SPONSOR: New Age Metals Inc. The company’s Lithium Division has already made significant acquisitions in Canada and the USA. The company also owns one of North America’s largest primary platinum group metals deposit in Sudbury, Canada. Updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate 2,867,000 PdEq Measured and Indicated Ounces, with an additional 1,059,000 PdEq Ounces in the Inferred. Learn More.

New Research Promises Electric Car Batteries That Last For a Million Miles

• Power cells used in electric vehicles, like Teslas, have an expected lifespan of around 300,000 to 500,000 miles,
• A team of battery researchers believes it has come up with a recipe that can double that, leading to batteries that could potentially outlast the electric car itself.

By: Andrew Liszewski

Electric motors guzzle electricity, which can be especially hard on a rechargeable battery. The power cells used in electric vehicles, like Teslas, have an expected lifespan of around 300,000 to 500,000 miles, but a team of battery researchers believes it has come up with a recipe that can double that, leading to batteries that could potentially outlast the electric car itself.

In a paper published in the The Journal of the Electrochemical Society earlier this month, battery researchers from Halifax, Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University describe a new lithium-ion battery that could potentially power an electric vehicle for over one million miles and over 4,000 charging cycles while only losing about 10 percent of its charging capacity (and vehicle range) as it reaches the end of its lifespan. Most drivers upgrade their rides well before the odometer rolls over to one million, but the new battery tech could be especially useful in vehicles that are on the road around the clock like taxis, shuttles, and even delivery trucks.

Like the ingredients of a fast-food chain’s “special sauce,” the chemical makeup of batteries, which governs how well they perform and how long they last, are usually a closely guarded secret. Since 2016, the Dalhousie team has actually been conducting its research on improving lithium-ion batteries exclusively for Tesla, but this paper divulges exactly how they came up with a recipe for a million-mile electric car battery by optimizing all of the ingredients, which includes artificial graphite, and then improving the nanostructure of the lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide to create a crystal structure that’s less likely to crack and degrade performance. The exact recipe allows all of Tesla’s competitors to improve their own battery tech, so what’s going on?

According to Wired, who spoke to former researchers who worked in the Dalhousie lab, by publishing the most important details of this research, it provides a new performance benchmark for all of the other R&D labs working on improving battery tech, so, ideally, a million miles of battery life is just the beginning. But Elon Musk is not one to simply give away valuable research without a backup plan, and as Wired points out, just days after this paper was published, Tesla was awarded a patent for a new electric vehicle battery featuring nearly the exact same chemical makeup as the ones detailed in the research paper. One of the inventors listed in the new patent was physicist Jeff Dahn, who just so happens to lead Dalhousie University’s battery lab.

The exact details of Tesla’s newly patented lithium-ion battery aren’t known, but former researchers who worked alongside Dahn believe there’s a very good chance it already outperforms the battery detailed in the research paper. It’s also unknown when Tesla would put the new battery into production, but there will undoubtedly be plenty of fanfare when Musk officially debuts it to the world.

Source: https://gizmodo.com/new-research-promises-electric-car-batteries-that-last-1838357663

SPONSOR:

• Company hosts North America’s largest primary PGM deposit
• Updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate of 2,867,000 PdEq Measured and Indicated Ounces, with an additional 1,059,000 PdEq Ounces Inferred

Read More

————————-

• After hitting new all-time highs, palladium might be ready for even more gains, with some analysts pointing to the $1,700 level as a reality
• Spot palladium reached a new record high of $1,664.34 early on Monday. Palladium’s December futures also hit a new record high, touching $1,642.90 an ounce level
• At the time of writing, December futures were at $1,631.10, up 0.38% on the day

By: Anna Golubova

(Kitco News) – After hitting new all-time highs, palladium might be ready for even more gains, with some analysts pointing to the $1,700 level as a reality.

Spot palladium reached a new record high of $1,664.34 early on Monday. Palladium’s December futures also hit a new record high, touching $1,642.90 an ounce level. At the time of writing, December futures were at $1,631.10, up 0.38% on the day.

Higher gold prices, rising on rising Middle East tensions and a breakdown in the U.S.-China trade talks, have also been helping palladium, analysts said.

“Palladium’s move higher is very much a correlation to gold. Gold moved up quite nicely on Monday. Also, we had a silver rally as well as platinum. Palladium followed suit. The precious metals moved higher most likely on mentions from Fed officials of potentially more interest rate cuts,” head of global strategy at TD Securities Bart Melek said on Monday.

December Comex gold futures were last at $1,530.80, up 1.04% on the day, December silver was at $18.68, up 4.66% on the day, and October platinum was at $959.70, up 1.17% on the day.

On Monday, markets were digesting the U.S. decision to send more troops to the Gulf region following the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on September 14. This came almost immediately after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran, including the country’s central bank on Friday.

Other significant precious metals drivers have been U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement on Friday that he is not interested in just a partial deal with China and Chinese officials proceeding to cancel their visit to U.S. farmers.

Healthy demand

Palladium has also been supported by healthy demand, limited supply, higher equities and liquidity concerns, according to UBS strategist Joni Teves.

“The combination of healthy demand, constrained supply, and challenging liquidity conditions is likely driving prices higher here. Our understanding is that there were some additional supplies earlier in the year mainly from release in pipeline stocks, which likely drove the easing in forwards in H1. But still-healthy demand implies that those stocks should have been well absorbed,” Teves wrote on Monday.

The new high surged past palladium’s significant resistance barrier of $1,620, which means more upside, including $1,700 is possible, said Commerzbank AG commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch.

“It already exceeded the zone of massive resistance at 1,600/1,620 on Friday, opening up scope for a further rise to $1,700. There has been no evidence of late of any significant investor interest in palladium. Net long positions have climbed only marginally, while ETF holdings have remained at a low level,” Fritsch wrote.

Downside risks

Some downside risks remain for palladium this year, including the unresolved U.S.-China trade war.

“A breakdown of U.S.-China trade talks, deterioration in economic data and a pullback in equities from the highs, therefore, presents downside risks for palladium over the remainder of the year. The rally to all-time-high palladium prices might attract some short positions in the near term, especially considering how low gross shorts are at the moment – only 25% of the record,” Teves explained.

BofA Merrill Lynch also sees a high probability of a cool down in the rally based on subsiding “fear in physical markets.”

“Assets under management at ETFs have now stabilized, suggesting that the immediate need and willingness of market participants to tap these vehicles has been limited. While fundamentals remain solid … all this suggests that the rally especially of palladium may pause here,” BofA Merrill Lynch wrote in a note in September.

Source: https://www.kitco.com/news/2019-09-23/Palladium-hits-record-highs-is-1-700-next.html