Peter Tom Jones (KU Leuven): “Phosphate batteries are rather bad news for Europe”

2023-11-25 02:00:37

For Peter Tom Jones of KU Leuven, phosphate batteries are not exactly good news as Europe chooses the path of recyclable batteries and responsible extraction.

When we talk regarding electric car batteries, we first talk regarding of minerals and access to these minerals. So far, as soon as you mention the question of electric cars, the question of cobalt produced in Congo often comes up in the conversation. However, this might change for several reasons.

Firstly there is an increasingly strong wave in Europe aimed at sourcing locally, with a serious challenge on the opening of mines in Europe, particularly in the Scandinavian countries.

But what is also changing the situation today is the diversity of batteries arriving on the market. So far, automotive Europe, in a race for autonomy and performance, has favored NMC batteries, for Nickel Manganese Cobalt (see box).

It is in this technology that Europe is currently betting to catch up in electric vehicles with the opening of a series of battery cell “gigafactories” on the continent.

But if you have followed the theme of the electric car a little, another fairly mature technology, lithium-iron-phosphate batteries (LFP), has already made a place for itself on the planet of electric vehicles.

“For a virtuous chain to be established in the European electric automobile, recycling will be critical for the phosphate battery (LFP).”

Peter Tom Jones

Director of SIM² at KU Leuven

It is this type of battery, cheaper and less demanding in critical minerals, which has found a place in the Chinese sun. The LFP battery was already knocking with more and more insistence on the European door.

Uninteresting recycling

Peter Tom Jones, director of the Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals at KU Leuven (SIM²), has been in the spotlight these days in the small European world of electric mobility.

We therefore ask him whether the massive arrival of LFP batteries is a good or bad thing for Europe. His answer is quite clear, it is “rather bad news.”

“The LFP is a much cheaper Chinese alternative,” he recalls. The problem is that fora virtuous chain is being established in the European electric automobile, recycling will be critical. “In NMC batteries, the price of cobalt and nickel make them a good recycling business case,” recalls Peter Tom Jones.

It’s not that LFP batteries can’t be recycled, but the value of the elements you get from them (lithium, iron and phosphate) is rather low which makes the recycling process more complicated from an economic point of view than is the recycling of NMC batteries.

Less residual values

Finally, LFP cars are also cheaper to buy, because they have less residual value in their batteries. If we think in terms of the footprint of batteries and virtuous cycles around the electric car, the question would therefore be to force the recycling of batteries in Europe.

“Otherwise, it just won’t be done and the batteries will be thrown away, especially the LFPs.”explains the director of SIM².

It also points to the idea of ​​”Law of conservation of misery“which wants that in a system, misery is constant, so that when you reduce misery on one side, it returns on the other.

In this case, if the demand for nickel and cobalt fell in favor of a large increase in demand for phosphate, this would create other problems. “We would then transfer the problem of a critical material to another critical material,” believes the researcher.

“The majority of the world’s natural phosphate reserves are located in Morocco. However, other key reserves are found in countries like Russia and China. These are the two countries we do not want to depend on.”adds Jones.

“Phosphate is widely used for fertilizer. Do we want to put electric cars in competition with agriculture?”

Peter Tom Jones

Director of SIM² at KU Leuven

So even if we started producing it in Europe where possible, the production would probably not be of the same quality. And also “phosphate is widely used for fertilizer. Do we want to put electric cars in competition with agriculture?” asks Peter Tom Jones.

For him, even if the world will not run out of natural phosphate anytime soon, the EU should nevertheless worry regarding phosphate rock shortagesthis is also why phosphate is on the list of critical raw materials.

In the recycling of LFP batteries, another very current problem also surfaces. “They can only be treated with thermomechanical hydrometallurgy. It can quickly become a dirty job that emits perennial chemical pollutants, PFAS, at 500 degrees if you do it the wrong way“, pointe Jones.

NMC battery gigafactories are starting to emerge in Europe. “No factory is available for LFP in Europe,” we explained at Stellantis during the week.

In the battle for a more responsible electric car, it is therefore a question of to have minerals also exploited responsibly. The CO2 footprint of European mines is much smaller than those of other external mines.

Read also

Why Umicore is sure it can do without iron-phosphate batteries

This is what Peter Tom Jones details in his documentary which took him to the promising mines of the Scandinavian countries to the corridors of the Berlaymont for the essential legislation section for responsible exploitation of mines and materials while respecting local populations.

When we see China’s current influence over the entire value chain of batteries for electric vehicles, opt for technology like LFP which gives them even more weight would therefore not be not the best strategic option for Europe.

Different battery technologies

The race for the best chemistry, access to critical minerals and lower battery prices is giving rise to an intense technological battle. A quick update on current and future technologies.

Batteries NMC

Lithium-Ion Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt batteries. These are the batteries currently found in most Western electric cars. They offer the best autonomy and good durability, but require critical minerals such as cobalt or nickel. Their extraction conditions also raise questions in certain parts of the world, particularly in Congo.

Ces batteries are also expensive and are responsible for the high price of electric vehicles. They are available in medium grade and high grade nickel versions. These batteries nevertheless remain promised a bright future in Premium vehicles and partly in the mid-range.

Batteries LFP

Lithium-Iron-Phosphate batteries are the most widely used batteries in China. They use less critical materials than nickel and cobalt batteries. They are nevertheless much less interesting to recycle. They also offer less autonomy, even if this aspect has improved greatly recently with the latest generations.

Stellantis has already announced a deal with CATL on this technology for its entry-level vehicles. Other European manufacturers are considering them more and more seriously for their entry-level vehicles in Europe.

Batteries LFMP

These are Lithium-Iron-Manganese-Phosphate batteries to which manganese is “added”, which improves their performance and in particular the autonomy of electric vehicles.

Batteries HLM

These high manganese lithium batteries are an entry-level alternative to LFP batteries. We know them well in Belgium, because Umicore is betting on them to meet manufacturers’ demand for cheaper batteries.

Umicore can also produce the active cathode materials in its NMC production units.

No model providing for them has yet been announced. Umicore sees them starting to break through in 2025.

Les batteries sodium-ion (Na-ion)

Sodium-ion batteries are the promise of lithium-free batteries. Sodium is much cheaper than lithium. We are talking regarding batteries for entry-level vehicles or for stationary energy.

These batteries still have some technological challenges to resolve before their real breakthrough. They would still be 20% cheaper than LFP batteries.

Batteries DRX

Batteries with DRX cathodes for “disordered rock salt” also represent a technology of the future which will allow to produce batteries with any transition metal instead of nickel and cobalt.

Solid batteries

Battery solidification concerns medium and high nickel NMC batteries. Once made solid, batteries would require fewer materials and improve their energy density.

Semi-solid-state batteries should emerge in the second part of this decade before seeing fully solid-state batteries arrive on the market once more this decade.

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