Proprietry Purification ProcessNorthern has developed a cost competitive, environmentally sustainable, proprietary purification process that represents an alternative to Chinese methods. It has been extensively tested in the lab and at a bench scale and a pilot plant test is planned. Prices for cSPG that has been coated with asphalt or pitch and used in ordinary batteries for small devices is in the order of US$4-6/kg. EV batteries have traditionally used synthetic graphite which has a better cycle life but is lower capacity and very expensive. A couple of South Korean and Japanese companies have developed proprietary technologies to CVD coat and treat natural graphite and blend it with synthetic to take advantage of the strengths of each and to manufacture lower cost, long life, high capacity EV batteries. It is generally believed their EV batteries are 40 to 60% natural graphite and that the ratio will increase over time. This state of the art natural cSPG sells for $7-10/kg.