Nissan expects to eliminate cobalt in batteries by mid-decade
Traditional lithium batteries can contain up to 20% cobalt in electrodes, but mining is fraught with environmental and ethical concerns, as it is concentrated in the troubled Republic of Congo. The cost of cobalt is skyrocketing, which is why automakers are showing interest in reducing its content in traction batteries. Nissan expects to phase out cobalt by 2025.
The Nikkei Asian Review explains that modern electric vehicles’ cost is 30% driven by traction batteries. The cost of the batteries themselves is 20% driven by the price of cobalt. Reducing the price of traction batteries is the main condition for the successful expansion of electric vehicles, so car manufacturers are interested in improving batteries’ chemical composition. Nissan Motor has been producing Leaf electric vehicles since 2010 and gained popularity at the early stage of the Tesla business. Hence, the Japanese manufacturer has serious experience in this area.
The challenge for Nissan is to reduce the cobalt content of batteries without compromising charge density and range. The fact is that lithium batteries without cobalt in the electrodes have existed for a long time – these are the so-called LFP batteries with iron phosphate. They are more durable and less prone to fire, but they have a lower specific capacity, although they are cheaper to manufacture than batteries with cobalt content. Japanese engineers expect to reduce this element’s content to zero by 2025, preparing for the announcement of the Aria electric car already uses batteries, which contain no more than 10% cobalt. However, to maintain such batteries’ acceptable performance, the nickel content has to be increased, so this is a certain compromise.
By the end of the decade, Nissan experts expect to reduce the cost of traction batteries from the current $ 150 per kWh to less than $ 100. I must say that competitors are not standing still in the issue of reducing dependence on cobalt. Tesla intends to increase its content to a few percent and then eliminate it from the electrodes’ composition. Panasonic has already managed to reduce the cobalt content to less than 5%, and the Japanese company is also aiming to eliminate it in a few years. Cobalt prices have increased by 60% since last year, and this is an additional incentive to reduce its content in batteries.
