Our Oil addiction and Lithium-ion

Happy Wednesday!

Hope you are doing fine.

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So today we will be reading about the World’s Oil addiction and Lithium-ion.

Earth has 195 countries in total but very few are fortunate enough to have oil reserves and can enjoy the unprecedented wealth & power, so much so that some have become dependent on oil income to run their economies because the present world runs on Oil which is a fossil fuel and is limited. It is used in various applications from the smallest to the biggest things like Chewing gum to Submarine & Space Rockets.

America, China & India are the biggest consumers of crude oil. In Dec 2019, a new infectious virus said ‘Hi’ to the world via Wuhan (China) and disrupted the whole world’s supply chain, and took the lives of 6.5 million innocents and still counting. In order to save their population, all the countries had to go under full lockdown for several months, for the first time whole world stopped so the demand for crude oil and its price went down at a rapid pace and for a few moments the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil slumped into negative for the first time in history.

For many decades, work is being done in the sector of batteries but in the last few years world is rapidly finding ways to scale its uses to more significant uses like electric vehicles. Elon Musk should get the credit for pushing the Electric Vehicle into the real world. As an impact, other budget car companies started to make electric cars for the general public.

Lithium-ion is the main component making the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and other gadgets (as shown below). It is actually a game-changing technology that helps in the storage of more energy for a longer time. Li-ion cells are more technologically advanced than previously used acid-lead batteries which are heavy, fragile and demand high maintenance.

Multiple uses of Li-ion batteries.

But commercial uses of Li-ion are limited to three main uses which are Vehicles, Consumer Electronics & Power Backup.

While general awareness is rising and prices of raw materials and labor costs are coming down due to rapidly increasing production, as a result, more and more of the population (in India) is considering buying an EV making TATA Nexon the most selling EV in India having four months of a waiting period.

The Indian government and battery industry have started taking major steps in manufacturing Li-ion cells in India itself.

Exide Industries a battery giant has done a joint venture called Nexcharge with Lechlanch a Switzerland-based energy solution company. It will provide technology for lithium cells and Exide will help with its strong distribution network. Japanese firms Suzuki, Toshiba and Denso are turning their Li-ion battery manufacturing plant in Gujarat into an exporting Hub. Domestic production will start around 2024-25 projecting a production capacity of 3 crore cells per year. That is a lot of cells.

In order to complete that kind of demand for Lithium, we have to import it from Lithium sufficient countries like Bolivia, Argentine, Chile and Austria which hold more than 50% of the world’s total Lithium reserves. Although the government is in talks with various countries for the same. Lithium-sufficient countries will enjoy new powers & wealth that oil-sufficient countries are enjoying today.

Future

Although EVs are the main driver of this change but we should admit that oil is going to be in demand for a few more decades as it has multiple uses other than transportation for example Cameras, Pipes, Tyres, X-rays, Bottles, Plastics and much more. Yes, we might not need an oil change in EVs but we still need crude oil-generated fluids & lubricants as of now.

According to the International Energy Agency, oil demand will not decline until 2040 while according to Exxon Mobil (Founded by the legend John D. Rockefeller) an American MNC says ‘Oil demand will increase by 8% per year for next few years.

Here is a list of some of the companies that are active in the EV space in India

1. Electric Vehicle Producing Companies In India

1. Mahindra

2. Tata Motors

3. Ashok Leyland

4. Maruti

5. Hero MotoCorp

6. OK Play India Ltd

7. JBM Auto

8. Goldstone Infratech

9. Olectra GreenTech

2. Lithium-ion Battery Manufacturers in India

1. BHEL and ISRO

2. Exide Industries

3. Amara Raja Batteries

4. HBL Power Systems

5. High Energy Batteries

6. JSW Energy

7. Tata Chemicals

3. Electric Car Charging Station Manufacturers

1. Ola and Indian Oil

2. NTPC

3. Tata Power

4. Companies Involved in R & D of Electric Vehicle

1. BHEL and ISRO

2. L&T

3. High Energy Batteries:

5. Raw Material Extracting Companies

1. Hindustan Copper

2. MOIL

3. Graphite India

4. Hindalco

5. Vedanta

6. National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO)

7. Rain Industries

8. Himadri Speciality Chemical

9. Tata Chemicals

6. Others

1. Sona Comstar

2. Pondy Oxides

3. Motherson Sumi

4. Greaves Cotton

That’s it from my end. If you found this helpful, do share this with some of your friends.