| Click on blue article title to read full story. | | | | Cobalt | | | | The Economist - March 22, 2018 Nickel could make a good substitute—provided car batteries don’t catch fire one of nickel, cobalt and aluminium known as NCA. As cobalt has become pricier and scarcer, some battery makers have produced cobalt-lite What is less well known is that four-fifths of the cobalt sulphates and oxides used to make the all-important cathodes for lithium-ion batteries are refined in China…On March 14th concerns about China’s grip on Congo’s cobalt production deepened when GEM, a Chinese battery maker, said it would acquire a third of the cobalt shipped by Glencore, the world’s biggest producer of the metal, between 2018 and 2020—equivalent to almost half of the world’s 110,000-tonne production in 2017…China Moly may eventually ship its Congo cobalt home rather than to Finland, giving China as much as 95% of the cobalt-chemicals market…As cobalt has become pricier and scarcer, some battery makers have produced cobalt-lite cathodes by raising the nickel content—to as much as eight times the amount of cobalt. This allows the battery to run longer on a single charge, but makes it harder to manufacture and more prone to burst into flames. The trick is to get the balance right. | | Asian Metal - March 23, 2018 GEM introduced on March 22 that the company, as a leader in the recycling of waste batteries in China, has built six industrial bases,... tons of cobalt metal, its annual recovery of cobalt resources exceeds the original amount of cobalt mining in China.Asian MetalCopyright With annual recycling of 3000-5000 tons of cobalt metal, its annual recovery of cobalt resources exceeds the original amount of cobalt mining in China…GEM mainly recycles the recycling of cobalt, nickel, tungsten, and copper resources and electronic waste. | | | | | EVs & Energy Storage | | | | Reuters US News - March 23, 2018 YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) on Friday said it planned to sell 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2022,... on Friday said it planned to sell 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2022, including all-battery EVs and cars powered by its “e-Power” Nissan Motor Co announced plans to sell 1 million electric vehicles (EVs) annually by 2022, a six-fold jump from what it sold last year…Launched as the world’s first mass-market all-battery EV in 2010, Nissan’s Leaf compact hatchback is the world’s best-selling EV, though sales have been just around 300,000 units in its lifetime...Nissan said on Friday it would develop eight new all-battery EVs over the next five years, including four models for China. Its luxury Infiniti brand would begin carrying new electric models from 2021, it added…In 2017, Nissan sold 163,000 electric vehicles globally…Nissan and its automaking partners, France’s Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp, together plan to launch 17 electric models as part of their strategy to achieve annual vehicle sales totaling 14 million units by 2022, compared with 10.6 million units in 2017. | | Digital Trends - March 23, 2018 Automakers are increasingly looking at ways to make use of so-called “second-life” batteries that are removed from electric vehicles (EVs)...... of so-called “second-life” batteries that are removed from electric vehicles (EVs) once their storage capacity falls below a certain level. Nissan, together with its affiliate 4R Energy Corporation, this week unveiled the “Reborn Light,” a solar-powered street lamp that uses old EV batteries from its electric Leaf car to store excess energy…The 4.2-meter-tall light, which sports a rather striking design when you compare it to regular street lamps, holds the battery in its base, while the solar panel sit at the top, just above the LED light…Nissan is by no means the only automaker to be exploring uses for older EV batteries. BMW, for example, used 2,600 used EV battery modules from 100 cars to build a 2.8-mWh storage system at a charging station in Hamburg, Germany, which can be used as an energy source for peak demand periods. And Renault has also put them to use on its so-called “smart island” in Portugal. | | Los Angeles Times - March 16, 2018 The powerful new Porsche 911 GT3 RS's 500-horsepower gasoline engine can blast a driver from zero to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds. How fast can the German automaker manage the transition to a future of electric vehicles and robot-driven cars? The company addressed that question in its hometown of The company addressed that question in its hometown of Stuttgart earlier this month, laying out plans to double investment in "trends for the future" with all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars accounting for 25 percent of new car sales by 2025…"We are using our high earnings level to support an unprecedented future development plan," Porsche Chairman Oliver Blume said…Porsche will invest $3.75 billion in new technology in the next four years, as much as it has to date, Blume said The money will be spent on derivatives of the upcoming all-electric Mission E sedan, adding hybrid versions of existing gasoline models, electric charging technology, and "smart mobility" including new digital services. | | Engineering News - March 23, 2018 Powered by the fifth generation of battery and drivetrain technology, from 2021, BMW will be able to offer all-electric vehicles with a... range currently on offer in most electricvehicles. One of the biggest factors inhibiting all-electric vehicle sales is the driver’s range Powered by the fifth generation of battery and drivetrain technology, from 2021, BMW will be able to offer all-electric vehicles (EVs) with a range of up to 700 km..BMW says it intends to rapidly increase sales of electrified vehicles (all-electric and plug-in hybrid) to customers worldwide. In 2017, the group sold more than 103 000 electrified vehicles worldwide, accounting for a 21% share of electrified vehicle sales in Europe. This is a 65% jump compared with 2016 sales. The car maker said it intended to grow global sales of electrified vehicles to at least 140 000 units in 2018…BMW says it aims to have 25 electrified models by 2025, of which 12 will be pure electric…China is the market “moving to electrification the most”, said BMW management board member for finance, Dr Nicolas Peter, on Wednesday. “China is a key market for electrification.”…“Our future is definitely electric,” he emphasised. | | | | | Fortune In The Media | | | | Unknown - March 23, 2018 Interview with Robin Goad, President and CEO, Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQX: FTMDF) | | | | |