February 15, 2012
LONDON – Production is under way at a new $430 million joint Sino-Russian plant described by its owners as the world’s largest high-capacity lithium-ion battery factory.
The plant, Liotech, is a joint venture between China’s Thunder Sky and the state-owned Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano), with Thunder Sky owning 50.1% and Rusnano 49.9%.
Liotech produces three battery types destined mainly for the electric-transport and energy-supply industries. Plant Manager Igor Chapaev says annual manufacturing capacity is estimated at 1 million batteries, enough to equip 5,000 electric buses a year.
“The plant will be actively increasing its production capacities in 2012, when its revenue is expected to reach RR9 billion to RR10 billion ($301 million to $335 million); then, by 2015, these figures could increase up to RR35 billion to RR40 billion ($1.2 billion to $1.3 billion),” says Anatoly Chubais, executive board director-Rusnano.
“If everything goes ahead, its share in the global batteries market will amount to 10% to 15%.”
Given the growth of global auto makers’ investments in Russia following its recent admission to the World Trade Organization, along with China’s burgeoning auto sector, a ready supply of Li-ion batteries could help accelerate EV production in the two countries.
Li-ion battery costs have been dropping as lithium, the key ingredient in production, becomes less expensive. Lithium carbonate prices exceeding $5,000 per tonne (1.1 tons) in 2008 fell to less than $4,500 per tonne in 2010 and likely “will remain around this level for some time,” says President Edward R. Anderson of TRU Group, a manufacturing-resources consultancy.
TRU predicts supplies of the metal will continue increasing through 2020 as a number of new pipeline projects come on line and existing producers expand.
At least one auto maker, however, is not waiting for lithium prices to continue falling.
“The cost of lithium-ion batteries needs to be reduced significantly, or a more affordable alternative found, for it to be able to be used more widely and reach mass-market potential,” says Jean-Yves Jault, corporate communications general manager-Toyota Motor Europe.
“We are researching next-generation batteries that would surpass lithium-ion in the future, (including) all-solid-state batteries, metal-air batteries and the ‘Sakichi’ battery – a high-density, non-self-discharging, quick-recharging, highly durable battery with a simple structure.”
In the meantime, Jault says: “Toyota will continue to invest in both nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries because they suit different needs. We don’t consider one technology as being superior or more advanced than the other.”
Liotech is located just outside Russia’s third-largest city Novosibirsk, in Siberia, where a cluster of related high-tech plants making cathode and anode materials, among other products, are expected to be built.
– with Eugene Vorotnikov in St. Petersburg
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