The average new electric car in the United States costs about $66,000, just a few thousand dollars short of the median household income last year.
The mine contains lithium, an indispensable ingredient in electric car batteries that is in short supply. If it opens on schedule early next year, it will be the second North American source of that metal, offering hope that badly needed raw materials can be extracted and refined close to Canadian, American and Mexican auto factories, in line with Biden administration policies that aim to break China’s dominance of the battery supply chain.
Dozens of lithium mines are in various stages of development in Canada and the United States. Canada has made it a mission to become a major source of raw materials and components for electric vehicles. But most of these projects are years away from production. Even if they are able to raise the billions of dollars needed to get going, there is no guarantee they will yield enough lithium to meet the continent’s needs.
After the price of lithium fell by half from 2017 to 2020, the mine’s previous owner, Chinese battery maker CATL, shut down operations and sought protection from creditors for the subsidiary that owned the property. Sayona, working with Piedmont Lithium, a lithium mining and processing company based in Belmont, North Carolina, bought the operation last year.
“Those of us in the industry are quite confident that lithium will be in short supply for the next decade,” said Keith Phillips, CEO of Piedmont Lithium, which owns 25% of the Sayona’s Quebec project. He added, “Others are taking a contrarian view.” The world will also need more refineries, the plants where raw lithium is processed into a concentrated form of the metal that goes into batteries. Most lithium is processed in China, and Piedmont and other companies plan to build refineries in the United States. But lithium processing requires expertise that is in short supply, said Eric Norris, president of lithium at Albemarle, a mining and processing company in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Jordan Diaz’s first MLB hit sole highlight in A’s loss to AstrosOakland A’s Jordan Diaz makes MLB debut in rough loss to Houston Astros
Read more »
Report: Quebec's Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Seeks Energy to Power Crypto-Mining Opportunities – Mining Bitcoin NewsKahnawake members are looking into using electricity from Hydro Quebec in order to power cryptocurrency mining operations.
Read more »
MX-5 'Naked Monoposto' revealed with 184hpThe original Mazda MX-5 speedster dream made real. With a little help from Italian tuner, Gorgona Cars
Read more »
Why Electric Vehicles Won’t Break the GridThough conservatives have attacked California officials for asking electric vehicle owners to unplug during a heat wave, experts say more electric cars won’t topple the power grid
Read more »
Honda Exec: Lithium-Ion EVs Will Always Be More Expensive Than Gas CarsHonda believes lithium-ion EVs will never be as cheap as gas cars, so instead will move towards solid-state tech.
Read more »
Marco Rubio says California electric car plan 'self-defeating': People will be 'charging their cars with coal'Sen. Marco Rubio said California's mandate for banning sales of gas-powered cars by 2035 does not make sense when electric cars rely on coal and natural gas to charge.
Read more »