Lithium Valley Main Report 2018
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Figure 11: Materials and Components for a Tesla 18-650 Lithium Ion Battery Cell
Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance 17
4.4 The Importance of Rare Earth Elements to the Future of Power Storage
These rare earths are critical components of the specialised magnets that enable these new turbine and motor systems to work more efficiently, more economically and for longer than any existing alternatives. According to some sources, it is unlikely that there will be effective substitutes for these rare earth materials due to their unique properties. 19 Based upon forecasts for electric vehicles sales and wind turbine generation installations, the 2025 global demand for these key rare earths is expected to be approximately 150,000 tonnes. 20 This represents more than 20 years’ worth of production from a current single, efficient processing facility.
Geoscience Australia suggests rare earth elements (REE) to consist of 17 elements. 18 REEs commonly occur together in differing proportions in ore bodies. When purified, these elements have a range of uses including lighting, TV screens, steel production, catalytic convertors, magnets, lasers, smartphones and nuclear reactors. Growing demand from high technologies has fuelled the growth over the last two decades. However, two recent dynamic factors are currently driving a major growth in demand for the particular rare earth elements dysprosium, neodymium and terbium: ● ● The global growth and efficiency improvement of wind turbines (Figure 12) ● ● The global growth of electric vehicles (of all types) (Figure 13 )
17 Shankleman, Jessica, Biesheuvel, Tom, Ryan, Joe, Merrill, Dave (2017), We’re Going To Need More Lithium, Bloomberg, 07 September 2017. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-lithium-battery-future/ . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 18 Geoscience Australia (2016), Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources 2016, 20 December 2016. https://ecat. ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search?node=srv#/metadata/e893e4ff-e366-4132-867e-e041044a9041 . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 19 Graedel T. et al. (2015), “On the materials basis of modern society”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), May 19, 2015. 112 (20) 6295-6300. http://www.pnas.org/content/
pnas/112/20/6295.full.pdf (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 20 Future Smart Strategies internal analysis (2018)
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