Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[California]

GM demand for magnet components re-opens a rare-earth mine in California

This is big.

Although development of permanent magnets originated in the US, the country has virtually no capacity to produce sintered NdFeB magnets.

MP owns and operates the Mountain Pass mine, the only rare earth mining and processing site of scale in North America. The company is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere, producing approximately 15% of the rare earth content consumed in the global market in 2020.

MP’s initial magnetics facility, using material sourced from its California mine, will have the capacity to produce approximately 1,000 tonnes of finished NdFeB magnets per year, with the potential to power approximately 500,000 EV motors annually.

This is located between Los Angeles and Las Vegas on I-15 and near the southern entrance to Death Valley. I've been through there a few times so I just now looked on Google Maps. Looking at 'Molycorp Mountain Pass' (the prior operator) then its Google reviews, there's a part of the story not shown in today's news articles: the previous operator went bankrupt when ordered to clean up all the hazardous waste he generated. And nobody lives there because of residual radiation, it's safer to commute in. See the Review in the map's left column posted by Jack O'Connor. Excerpt:

They are/were a Rare-Earth-Mining LLC sitting on one of the largest and most abundant rare earth deposits in the world, rivaled mainly by only China. The Bastnasite ore they mine contains a group of elements called Lanthanides i.e. lanthanum, neodymium, praseodymium, europium, cerium, and several more that are CRITICAL in today's high-tech- lifestyle involving; smart phones, super-magnets, water purification, and defense contracts just to name a few. They used to be the world's main supplier of rare- earth elements.

Looks like this is the first step in getting away from China's monopoly.

 

[3930dave]

..... the previous operator went bankrupt when ordered to clean up all the hazardous waste he generated. And nobody lives there because of residual radiation.....

Looks like this is the first step in getting away from China's monopoly.

Re-shore Industry.

Clean Air and Water, etc. (said seriously).

One of the challenges in doing both well, is it's inconvenient (and more often, expensive) to do. Big Money No Like.

IMO, the only real way to level this playing field is hold PRC (and the rest of the world) to the same pollution standards we have to meet here.

Otherwise...... pollution gets used as a Competitive Advantage.

Rgds, D.

 

[Hay Dude]

GM demand for magnet components re-opens a rare-earth mine in California

This is big.

This is located between Los Angeles and Las Vegas on I-15 and near the southern entrance to Death Valley. I've been through there a few times so I just now looked on Google Maps. Looking at 'Molycorp Mountain Pass' (the prior operator) then its Google reviews, there's a part of the story not shown in today's news articles: the previous operator went bankrupt when ordered to clean up all the hazardous waste he generated. And nobody lives there because of residual radiation, it's safer to commute in. See the Review in the map's left column posted by Jack O'Connor. Excerpt:

Looks like this is the first step in getting away from China's monopoly.

Yeah maybe, but if the waste is super hazardous and expensive to clean up because of our EPA standards, who would want to mine it? Will they be able to sustain a rare earth mining business if China can mine it cheaper because they can break all the rules we have here in the US?

 

[Hay Dude]

This is the biggest problem with EVs:
When we chose to eliminate ICEV and turn solely to EVs, we are competing with the Chinese in their wheelhouse. The batteries and electronics are their strength, not ours.
If we stay with ICEVs, we stay in our wheelhouse because it’s more petroleum fuel based, which we have perfected.
So now we are about to abandon petroleum based vehicles, which have been cleaned up considerably and could be even more. This will cause a much greater dependency on China, which we have seen in recent events, to be a risky way to live.

 

[RoyJackson]

IMO, the only real way to level this playing field is hold PRC (and the rest of the world) to the same pollution standards we have to meet here.

Exactly!

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Sodium-based Material Yields Stable Alternative to Lithium-ion Batteries

University of Texas at Austin researchers have created a new sodium-based battery material that is highly stable, capable of recharging as quickly as a

news.utexas.edu

Interesting how Austin TX just became the headquarters of Tesla. Sodium based batteries might be a better option for solar energy storage than lithium.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The Story of Fossil Fuels, Part 1: Coal

The black rock that started it all.

climatekids.nasa.gov

According to this NASA site coal came into use in China 4000 years ago. I find the history fossil fuels and the ICE interesting.

The Story of Fossil Fuels, Part 2: Oil

Bertha Benz's story shows how women can be drivers of technology.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Tesla's Musk says he is 'thinking of' quitting his jobs

He cracks me up. He has the whole world moving to EVs at the speed of light and now he wants to quit his many jobs to become an "Influencer". He has been an influencer since before he left South Africa.

 

[PuffyC]

Tesla's Musk says he is 'thinking of' quitting his jobs

He cracks me up. He has the whole world moving to EVs at the speed of light and now he wants to quit his many jobs to become an "Influencer". He has been an influencer since before he left South Africa.

Everyone is "thinking of" quitting their job

 

[Gale Hawkins]

When It Comes to Buses, Will Hydrogen or Electric Win?

This article does a good job of explaining why lithium ion batteries have an advantage over hydrogen fuel cells in the current technology available today.

Ships planes and trains may have to wait as the technologies evolve.