Tesla’s Nickel Problem: The quest for sustainable sourcing

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Guaranteed a “giant contract” to a nickel Provider Throughout the Q2 2020 Earnings Call. The challenge is that the company will have difficulty locating a highly efficient and environmentally-friendly nickel mine, and it could prove to become Tesla’s biggest challenge yet.

Nickel is a important alloy in electric car batteries since it can boost energy density and supply automobiles with more range. Musk stated during the Earnings Call that nickel-based cells are indispensable for the growth of bigger vehicles, like the Tesla Semi, for instance. “Where every single unit of mass which you add in battery pack, you have to reevaluate in freight,” he said. “So it’s quite important to get a whole mass efficient and backpack. ”

Nickel-based cells will give Tesla an advantage in electrical car range, a class where the provider leads by a large margin. But with new vehicles in route, cells must be corrected to operate with specific workloads. The Semi is an excellent example of this.

Nickel could replace cobalt in Tesla’s current cells. Cobalt, a contentious element on its own, is responsible for stabilizing the mobile and has been successful in increasing the protection of the high-energy batteries which Tesla has used. However, the mining process of cobalt is questionable, and mines which may obtain it probably are using child labour, which is highly illegal. Additionally, it isn’t environmentally-friendly for mine.

A nickel mine. (Credit: GoContractor)
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Tesla has taken additional measures to make sure that its cobalt providers are handling their workers humanely via a series of due diligence checks. Third-party companies finish random visits to these mines a few times every year to ensure that the cobalt Tesla is using in its batteries is normally obtained.

The problem is: Nickel mining isn’t considerably different. Although it would be advantageous, safer, and offer greater variety for Tesla’s vehicles, it is challenging to locate nickel that is environmentally-friendly and mines. The largest nickel sources are in Indonesia, in which hundreds of tonnes of waste are dumped into the ocean, polluting coral reefs and damaging the homes of turtles.

Analysts think that Indonesian miners will supply almost all the rise of nickel supplies over the next decade. With electrical cars getting more popular, batteries will be a massive part of the surge in demand for the metal. Nonetheless, it is also utilised in everyday products, like stainless steel appliances, Financial Times says.

Other countries, like Canada and Australia, have nickel plantations, but Indonesia is highly concentrated with it.

Steven Brown, a consultant and former employee at nickel mining company Vale, says that it could be challenging for customers that are environmentally-conscious to want products which include the alloy after hearing how some entities eliminate it.

“It could undermine the entire suggestion of trying to market a consumer a product that is environmentally friendly, if you’ve got this back story,” he explained.

Despite the fact that other countries have nickel accessible, the greater requirement for EVs will call for large automakers, like Tesla, to finally have to source some of their alloy from Indonesia. “At a certain stage, it is going to occur where they could ’t avoid Indonesian nickel,” Brown added.

Luckily, Tesla needs its sources to go through due diligence procedures , and it is not likely the company will steer away from these to acquire nickel. Obviously, Tesla will benefit from getting more nickel, but it has to be sourced sensibly for the provider even to consider using it.

In addition to that, nickel is your second most expensive steel in EV batteries. It merely trails cobalt, which Tesla has worked tirelessly to escape from due to its environmental and humanitarian effects.

“We utilize very little cobalt in our system , which ’s — that may to zero along, therefore it’s basically about nickel,” Musk stated.

There is a fragile balance between positive environmental effect following EVs hit on the street and the damaging impact sourcing some of the metals consumed. However, the automakers do not assume some of the responsibility for the mining companies’ process of eliminating waste. But it is their obligation to pick a business which decides to handle the ridding of environmentally-harming stuff sensibly.

Tesla has made it a point to choose companies which share their assignment for sustainability since the automaker realizes that creating an electric car begins with sourcing the stuff. If the substances are not responsibly obtained, then the EV isn’t as Earth-friendly because it could be.

Pius Ginting, an environmental activist, summed this up perfectly: “The result is that we have clean air in our cities — but then we ruin a rich biodiversity place. ”

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