Powering ahead: battery minerals face a robust future

• Autores: Siobhan Lismore-Scott
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 555, 2013
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Tesla revealed that along these lines, it has expanded its 2011 supplier agreement with Japanese battery manufacturer, Panasonic. Under this new agreement, Panasonic will increase its production capacity of automotive-grade li-ion battery cells to supply Tesla with a minimum of 1.8bn cells over four years, more than three times its previous agreement.

    "Consider the evolution of Apple's iPhone: between its first generation in 2007 and today's iPhone 5c, processing speed increased from 0.4 GHz to 1.3GHz, random-access memory (RAM) jumped from 128 MB to 1,024 MB, and screen resolution multiplied from about 150,000 pixels to 730,000 pixels. One performance metric, however, remained almost static N the iPhone's Li-ion battery capacity was 5.2 Wh in 2007, and is 5.5 Wh today, limiting device runtime, particularly when features like Bluetooth, 4G,or streaming video are used," a note from Lux Research in June set out.

    It's worth remembering also, that a single Tesla Model S EV can pack 85 KWh, equivalent to more than 15,000 iPhone batteries. During the first quarter of 2013 Tesla delivered 4,900 cars, containing about 400 MWh worth of batteries in total, while Apple's record iPhone sales during the same period of 48m units amounted to only 270 MWh.