lithium for evs: tesla\'s outsourcing vs. toyota\'s vertical integration

Now we have two ways to produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles.
We can outsource or-house.
Of course, the level or degree of outsourcing, and the level or degree of vertical integration.
The Status and Trends of mass production and technology development may have an impact on the level or extent of outsourcing or vertical integration.
Mass production forces Tesla to produce lithium
Because this would mean, among other things, economies of scale, doubling the input and they would more than double the output.
Reducing battery costs, in turn, will give Tesla the competitive power it needs to dominate the affordable electric vehicle market for ordinary consumers, while producing for the automotive industry and/or mass production in the world.
Good so far, right? Not so fast.
For many, by taking a joint venture with Panasonic and taking it to gigaplant, Nevada, Tesla may have taken an important step in the vertical integration of battery manufacturing.
This is not entirely clear, however. Why?
Because Panasonic will probably only assemble (Not manufacturing)Li-
Ion batteries in Nevada, while continuing to outsource different components of batteries from Japan or China in the coming years.
So, to some extent, Tesla may have brought its only lithium battery source (Panasonic)
Closer to the electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, but that doesn\'t mean it has actually integrated two production lines.
By doing so, Tesla would rather-in fact-
Completely free of the problem of lithium, let Panasonic (alone)deal with that.
That explains why after Tesla was unable to buy Simbol in 2014 to secure lithium production in the United States,S.
Signed two copies.
Agreement with Bacanora Minerals and pure energy minerals.
But why did Tesla choose two inexperienced starting points? ups (
Replace Yabao, square meter or Tian Qi)
These deals?
Some analysts believe this is because they are reluctant to give up pricing conditions with the lithium giant.
My point is that when Tesla makes this decision (
August 2015 the end)
-About a year after sending the intent book to Simbol-it has sorted out Plan B with Panasonic, basically in-
Through \"lithium stuff \".
What happened to Bacanora Minerals and pure energy minerals?
Well, they failed to bring lithium production online in a timely manner, that is, when the gigatford plant started operating in Nevada.
However, according to the above argument, we can assume that the result is completely predictable.
The question remains whether these two young people will enter industrial production and, more importantly, whether Tesla will buy any lithium from them.
In closing this argument, let me refer to an interesting message from China at this point: Apocalypse, the world\'s largest supplier of lithium hydroxide, lithium compounds required for the production of this cathode material (NCA)
Panasonic used to produce batteries, in response to questions about whether the company sold products to Tesla or Tesla battery suppliers, has just said that it \"does not sell products directly to lithium battery producers or auto makers, it mainly sells products to lithium battery cathode material manufacturers;
Some of Tesla\'s customers are also included in the supply chain.
\"Who is now the manufacturer of Panasonic lithium battery negative materials in Tesla\'s supply chain?
According to Roskill, \"Panasonic is currently mining from Sumitomo Metal (SMM)
Japan has been expanding capacity to meet Panasonic\'s requirements.
So, like Tesla, Panasonic is responsible for Li-
Panasonic\'s ion batteries are transferred to Sumitomo again, responsible for producing the cathode materials it needs, which ultimately means they also get the lithium they need.
This is in sharp contrast to Toyota\'s approach-be careful here that the Japanese giant is not the world\'s most enthusiastic advocate of electric vehicles.
As I argued elsewhere, after the disastrous sales results of the fuel cell electric vehicle Mirai, Toyota recently reworded the lithium discourse.
While I don\'t think Toyota\'s recent emphasis on lithium is a radical shift in its business strategy, I do think Toyota doesn\'t want to be unprepared for the upcoming wave of lithium.
That\'s why, as part of its partnership, it is betting on building a hydrogen oxide plant in Japan (
Toyota Trading Co. , Ltd. , a trading subsidiary)
Orocobre with Argentina.
Different from the current level
Orocobre says this time it will be a deal to finance in fulltake agreement.
It is clear that Toyota\'s goal is to develop its own lithium battery production in Japan, which has long been associated with it.
Time mate Panasonic
This should also be the crystal, why is this the case.
In general, although Tesla chose to outsource lithium battery production, Toyota seems to behouse endeavor.
The only problem with Toyota\'s new strategy is scale.
They are talking about producing 10,000 tons of lithium hydroxide a year.
It is clear that this amount of lithium will not help them compete with Tesla, confirming that they are not interested in driving the lithium revolution.
What seems to be a bit contradictory is that Tesla, which aims to disrupt the automotive industry, has chosen a lithium strategy that is quite risky, and Toyota just wants to be part of the new technology.
In fact, the economic model has decided to take preventive measures.
Despite the different reasons, these two business strategies are likely to fail.
This brings us directly to the second factor that affects outsourcing and vertical integration, namely, technology development.
By adopting the \"weak\" lithium method, Tesla not only endangered the full supply of its electric vehicle batteries in the event of a serious shortage of lithium, but it is also possible to make major technological breakthroughs in one of the most important aspects of electric vehicle production-battery manufacturing.
This has to do with what I can call the technology lithium trend, because it is one of the most important applications of lithium today, namely lithium batteries for electric vehicles.
As we all know, since Panasonic promoted 18650 Li-
Ion battery with nickelCobalt-Aluminum (NCA)
Chemistry, not only the demand for lithium hydroxide, but also its price has risen sharply.
That\'s why every lithium producer (
Professional or junior)
Now either transfer its lithium production from lithium carbonate to lithium hydroxide, or plan to produce only lithium hydroxide from the start.
Although chemistry has not changed in the new, more advanced 2170
Panasonic recently developed ion batteries for production in gigafactory, Nevada, and the rest of the battery manufacturers are moving towards nickel batteriesCobalt-Manganese (NCM)chemistry.
In both cases, lithium hydroxide is still the preferred lithium compound.
In the current technology, compared with lithium salt water resources, it is much easier and cheaper to produce hydrogen oxides from lithium ore resources, because in the first case, compounds can be produced directly, in the second case, carbonated root.
A disruptive method of producing lithium from salt water resources such as Xinbo and Posco has also been designed to produce hydrogen oxides directly.
Time will tell us whether these new technologies will succeed in the end.
For now, however, both Tesla and Toyota seem to be not interested in the development of the technology.
First of all, Tesla will rely entirely on Panasonic to solve the whole problem.
On the other hand, Toyota would rather buy lithium carbonate (out of it)
Lithium hydroxide in Japan is 10,000 metric tons.
With other conditions unchanged, this strategy will work well, both players who have been asking for or producing lithium as wellion batteries.
For example, if lithium battery technology develops in another direction, it may encounter some difficulties.
If technology goes beyond Li-
Other energy storage solutions (such as All-Solid-
National lithium battery, lithium sulfur battery and lithium-
Air and/or lithium-
It is most likely to use lithium metal oxygen batteries in the anode.
All in all, today, more than ever, lithium batteries with higher energy density, especially electric vehicles, need not only continuous research and development, vertical integration between lithium production and lithium battery production is also required through specialized material technology.
Again, it seems that Toyota is better prepared to meet this challenge than Tesla.
But is there room for improvement in Toyota\'s business strategy? You bet!
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