General Motors will need a large amount of cathode active materials (CAM) if it is to meet its aim of producing enough electric cars to become a carbon-neutral firm by 2040. How much is too much? How about 950,000 tonnes of it?
GM now claims to have established an agreement with LG Chem, one of South Korea’s leading battery manufacturers, to secure a supply of CAM beginning later this year. CAM is essentially what makes a battery a battery, comprising of components such as processed nickel, lithium, and other materials and accounting for around 40% of the overall cost of a battery cell.
NCM – nickel, cobalt, and magnesium — is used in the majority of EV battery cathodes. Cobalt is an important component of this combination, but it is also the most costly mineral in the battery and is mined in situations that often violate human rights, earning it the moniker “blood diamond of batteries.” As a consequence, GM and other businesses, such as Tesla, are racing to develop cobalt-free batteries. GM’s Ultium batteries, for example, will add aluminum to the mix, making it NCMA, and cut cobalt concentration by 70%.
LG Chem will begin delivering CAM to the automobile in the second part of 2022 and will continue until 2030. According to GM, this is enough battery material to power about 5 million electric cars, which could help the firm catch up to Tesla.
GM has said that it wants to invest $30 billion by 2025 in the development of 30 new plug-in models in order to surpass Elon Musk’s firm as the world’s top EV manufacturer. Tesla continues to dominate the relatively modest EV industry in the United States, with roughly 66 percent market share, while GM has just around 6 percent.
