The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Comments

1. Pogo says

   April 23, 2025 at 10:54 am

   @Yeah, too bad about Ukraine

   “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late”
   — Benjamin Franklin

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2. Ray W, says

   April 23, 2025 at 12:26 pm

   Japan’s Kyodo News PRWIRE outlet reports that CATL unveiled three new battery products at its inaugural “Super Tech Day” on April 21st.

   Here are some bullet points from the article:

   1. The world’s first mass-produced sodium-ion battery, named Naxtra, “breaks resource constraints and strengthens the foundation of the new energy industry.”

   – Given the abundance of sodium reserves, the Naxtra line of batteries will reduce dependence on lithium reserves and reduce the risk of fire.

   – There are two types of Naxtra batteries at this time: passenger vehicle batteries and start-stop 24-volt batteries designed to replace lead-acid batteries in heavy-duty trucks that operate in extreme cold conditions, as low as -40 degrees centigrade.

   – The passenger vehicle Naxtra battery retains 90% of usable power at -40 degrees centigrade, and even when depleted to 10% of full charge, it has no significant degradation of power delivery at that low a temperature.

   – The passenger vehicle Naxtra battery carries an energy density of 175 Wh/kg, a level comparable to lithium-ferrous-phosphate (LFP) batteries (and higher than lead-acid batteries). Naxtra batteries are safe enough compared to liquid-state lithium-ion (LiB) batteries to be designated intrinsically safe, as opposed to passively defensive.

   -The 24-volt Naxtra heavy-duty truck battery offers 8000 charging cycles, reducing life-cycle costs by 61% over the life of the battery. Truck operators will have a battery that ages at the same rate as the trucks in which they are installed [lead-acid batteries have a 300-500 deep-cycle lifetime].

   2. The Freevoy Dual-Power battery line combines two different battery chemistries in one battery package to meet customized battery needs.

   – Each dual-power battery style, combined with CATL’s “self-forming anode technology”, allows for “independent energy zones” that allow for five dual functions: “dual high voltage, dual low voltage, dual structure, dual thermal management, and dual thermal runaway safety protection.”

   – One dual-power battery style, the Sodium-LFP Dual-Power Battery, combines Naxtra with an LFP self-forming anode battery, “utilizing the low temperature performance of sodium-ion technology to provide users with an exceptional experience that excels in cold conditions while delivering extended range.”

   – Another dual-power battery style, the LFP-LFP Dual-Power Battery, combines a “second-generation Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery with the LFP self-forming anode battery.” This battery type permits EV sedan ranges in excess of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), with a per kilometer commuting cost as low as 0.1 yuan per kilometer. (At today’s rate of 14 cents per yuan, that means a commuting cost of 1.4 cents per kilometer, or around 2.3 cents per mile. Comparing this to an ICE car that gets 40 miles per gallon at the national average gasoline price of $3.17 per gallon, that means the electric car commuting cost is roughly one-third that of a gasoline-powered sedan.)

   – A third dual-power battery style is the NCM-LFP/NCM-NCM Dual-Power Battery, which “integrates an NCM battery with an LFP self-forming anode battery. This combination permits a “peak charging rate of 12C. (1C batteries charge from zero to full in one hour.) This combination “enables a capacity of over 180 kWh in sedans with a 3-meter wheelbase [roughly 100 inches, i.e., subcompact or smaller], breaking through the 1,500-kilometer pure electric range barrier. [932 miles].”

   -CATL also released its Shenxing 12C charging system which allows a charging rate of up to 2.5 kilometers of range per second. At a temperature of -10 degrees centigrade, a Shenxing Superfast Charging Battery can charge from 5% to 80% in 15 minutes, half the time needed for the highest current industry charging standard.

   Make of this what you will.

   Me?

   This article deals with only one of many battery manufacturers and with the company’s newly released products for just this year alone.

   The world’s battery center is now in China, and it is developing quickly. It didn’t have to be. 20 years ago, America was at the forefront of battery research and development. Somehow, we turned a blind eye to developing and manufacturing EV batteries and abandoned to the Chinese what will soon be a multi-trillion-dollar industry. BYD, which sold its first EV in 2008, sold 4.2 million cars, SUVs, buses and trucks last year, with EV sales up 40% over 2023.

   Manufacturing costs for EV batteries drop rapidly. Options proliferate just as fast. Many promising battery chemistries, such as graphene-aluminum-ion or iron-ion, await commercial development. An emerging American iron-ion battery manufacturer has raised $1.2 billion in private funds through five different offerings.

   LFP batteries use relatively small amounts of refined lithium and no cobalt. Sodium-ion batteries do not use lithium at all. Each of the two chemistries commands ever greater market share in the industry.

   Three years ago, refined lithium was commanding prices as high as $80,000 per ton. Now, the price is at or just below $10,000 per ton.

   CATL commands 37% of the world’s battery marketplace in all its forms, with BYD second at around 17%. Were the battery marketplace static, it likely would be difficult for new manufacturers to break in, but the marketplace is dynamic in breadth and scope and growing rapidly. Any battery company with a new idea might find a niche within which to grow and succeed. There remains a chance for U.S. battery innovators to enter into and compete with the world’s battery makers, but the window of opportunity may be closing.

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