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Sustainability Newsletter – December 2024
Cornish Lithium’s UK sourced raw materials for electric car batteries and its wider role in carbon reduction
Words by: Erin Baker
Published on 6 December 2024 | 0 min read
Whether it’s Chinese batteries or Russian oil, every country is currently trying to wean itself off dependency on energy from hostile (potential or real) markets. Not only is it a mater of economic security, but also carbon footprints, for the less exporting and importing that goes on, the less fuel we use freighting stuff around the world.
Which brings us to Cornwall, the location not only for beach holidays and pasties but also, as regular readers of the Auto Trader Sustainability Newsletter will recall, Cornish Lithium. Cornwall sits on a rich seam of lithium, a rare earth metal termed the world’s new “white gold”, such is its significance for everything from electric cars to phones. You can extract lithium by mining for it from the rock, or by extracting it from the watery brine it sits in below the Earth’s surface.
Which brings us to Cornwall, the location not only for beach holidays and pasties but also, as regular readers of the Auto Trader Sustainability Newsletter will recall, Cornish Lithium. Cornwall sits on a rich seam of lithium, a rare earth metal termed the world’s new “white gold”, such is its significance for everything from electric cars to phones. You can extract lithium by mining for it from the rock, or by extracting it from the watery brine it sits in below the Earth’s surface.
Cornish Lithium is currently doing both, and with promising results. The highly respected Faraday Institute has forecast that the UK will need around 100 kilo-tonnes per annum (ktpa) of lithium-carbon-equivalent (LCE), which is the unit for measuring lithium, by 2030 for its battery industry. The company is targeting production of LCE at a rate of 25 kilo-tonnes a year by 2030, equating to approximately a quarter of the UK’s requirement. Cornish Lithium believes the other lithium projects in the UK, combined with theirs, could produce around 50 kilo-tonnes of LCE a year by 2030. That would enable the UK to supply half its needs from domestic sources by that date, which, let’s not forget, is only five years away.
That’s hugely impressive. Better still, as Neil Elliot, Corporate Development Manager at Cornish Lithium points out, they’re producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide, which means no further processing is needed in another country before the stuff goes into car batteries, as long as the UK has a CAM (cathode active materials) manufacturer here, to turn that lithium hydroxide into cathode for use in making cells. The locality of the supply chain is key to reducing the eventual electric car’s carbon footprint given not only can the UK encircle the lithium hydroxide movement to a CAM site, but Cornish Lithium makes that lithium hydroxide in close proximity to the mine site itself, which will remove CO2 from transporting concentrate from the mine site to a refinery. The company is also producing life-cycle analyses for both methods (rock and water) of extracting lithium from below the earth. The expectation is that geothermal waters production will have a lower carbon footprint, and it plans to exploit that further by using the heat energy for local businesses and homes to decarbonise heating.
That’s hugely impressive. Better still, as Neil Elliot, Corporate Development Manager at Cornish Lithium points out, they’re producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide, which means no further processing is needed in another country before the stuff goes into car batteries, as long as the UK has a CAM (cathode active materials) manufacturer here, to turn that lithium hydroxide into cathode for use in making cells. The locality of the supply chain is key to reducing the eventual electric car’s carbon footprint given not only can the UK encircle the lithium hydroxide movement to a CAM site, but Cornish Lithium makes that lithium hydroxide in close proximity to the mine site itself, which will remove CO2 from transporting concentrate from the mine site to a refinery. The company is also producing life-cycle analyses for both methods (rock and water) of extracting lithium from below the earth. The expectation is that geothermal waters production will have a lower carbon footprint, and it plans to exploit that further by using the heat energy for local businesses and homes to decarbonise heating.
Water extraction will also have a smaller footprint as each site will effectively be a small water treatment plant at surface, with wellheads for the production and re-injection wells as opposed to the footprint of the quarry and processing plant at Trelavour in Cornwall.
It’s really exciting stuff, made possible by the open-minded approach of both Conservative and Labour governments in the UK when it comes to funding research and development in lithium extraction and battery manufacture, as well as the certainty that we need to onshore as much of our energy provision as possible in future. For consumers, it’s a tougher ask to get their heads around all this as well as the basic premise of electric cars, and the higher prices when brand new. The industry is not helping itself by talking in mind-boggling acronyms and jargon (see above), instead of making all this knowledge and possibility accessible to consumers who are looking to make greener choices in their car purchases. Perhaps it’s the responsibility of car brands to gather the stories together and tell them in plain, simple language that we can all understand. It certainly shouldn’t require A-level chemistry to understand how green the car you’re buying actually is.
It’s really exciting stuff, made possible by the open-minded approach of both Conservative and Labour governments in the UK when it comes to funding research and development in lithium extraction and battery manufacture, as well as the certainty that we need to onshore as much of our energy provision as possible in future. For consumers, it’s a tougher ask to get their heads around all this as well as the basic premise of electric cars, and the higher prices when brand new. The industry is not helping itself by talking in mind-boggling acronyms and jargon (see above), instead of making all this knowledge and possibility accessible to consumers who are looking to make greener choices in their car purchases. Perhaps it’s the responsibility of car brands to gather the stories together and tell them in plain, simple language that we can all understand. It certainly shouldn’t require A-level chemistry to understand how green the car you’re buying actually is.
Previous Sustainability Newsletters:
• Sustainability newsletter – November 2024 | The Autumn Budget, sales of electric vehicles, sustainable materials and planning for the future
• Sustainability newsletter – October 2024 | Road charging for electric cars, UK’s car manufacturers clean up their act and VW explores hemp-based bio interiors • Sustainability newsletter – September 2024 | Road charging for electric cars, UK’s car manufacturers clean up their act and VW explores hemp-based bio interiors • Sustainability newsletter – August 2024 | Is stimulating electric car sales ‘green’ and how improved charging infrastructure is helping with the great summer getaway • Sustainability newsletter – July 2024 | Hidden carbon cost of tech, Volvo pushes for more recycled plastics and Renault secures greener supply chain for EV batteries • Sustainability newsletter – June 2024 | Farewell chrome plating, bravo for Renault’s recycled interiors and a cheer for the … circular economy for recycled tyres • Sustainability newsletter – May 2024 | Lithium is key in the production of electric car batteries, but where does it all come from and at what cost? • Sustainability newsletter – March 2024 | The importance of renewable energy in making sure electric cars really are the green choice, and one Dutch couple’s mission to prove it! • Sustainability newsletter – January 2024 | French act on heavy SUVs and embedded CO2 of imported electric cars, BYD plans European factory and Nio opens battery swapping centres • Sustainability newsletter – December 2024 | Vauxhall electrifies Britain’s streets, a second life for electric car batteries and recycled Alcantara seat fabric combines luxury and sustainability • Sustainability newsletter – November 2023 | Costs for EV batteries fall, funding for UK-sourced lithium project, GM goes renewable and Lynk & Co commits to life cycle CO2 audits • Sustainability newsletter – October 2023 | Costs for EV batteries fall, funding for UK-sourced lithium project, GM goes renewable and Lynk & Co commits to life cycle CO2 audits • Sustainability newsletter – September 2023 | Erin Baker shares her thoughts on the UK's changing net zero targets and delaying the 2030 ban for new petrol and diesel cars. • Sustainability newsletter – August 2023 | Zapmap reports increased charger installations, Lime's e-mobility revolution and Nissan's autonomous driving • Sustainability newsletter – July 2023 | Public charging network expands, hydrogen back on the agenda and choosing green tyres • Sustainability newsletter – June 2023 | BMW helps electrify the UK’s national parks and Kia ditches leather across its range of cars • Sustainability newsletter – May 2023 | What upholstery will you be choosing for your next car - leather or pleather? • Sustainability newsletter – April 2023 | Polestar’s ‘moonshot’ for a zero emissions car and a look into synthetic fuels as a possible lifeline for internal combustion classics • Sustainability newsletter – February 2023 | Our regular sustainability round-up continues with a look at some new recycled materials this month, all of which could be in your car soon • Sustainability newsletter – January 2023 | Eco awareness is driving more and more car buying decisions for a variety of reasons -here we celebrate those doing it right!
• Sustainability newsletter – October 2024 | Road charging for electric cars, UK’s car manufacturers clean up their act and VW explores hemp-based bio interiors • Sustainability newsletter – September 2024 | Road charging for electric cars, UK’s car manufacturers clean up their act and VW explores hemp-based bio interiors • Sustainability newsletter – August 2024 | Is stimulating electric car sales ‘green’ and how improved charging infrastructure is helping with the great summer getaway • Sustainability newsletter – July 2024 | Hidden carbon cost of tech, Volvo pushes for more recycled plastics and Renault secures greener supply chain for EV batteries • Sustainability newsletter – June 2024 | Farewell chrome plating, bravo for Renault’s recycled interiors and a cheer for the … circular economy for recycled tyres • Sustainability newsletter – May 2024 | Lithium is key in the production of electric car batteries, but where does it all come from and at what cost? • Sustainability newsletter – March 2024 | The importance of renewable energy in making sure electric cars really are the green choice, and one Dutch couple’s mission to prove it! • Sustainability newsletter – January 2024 | French act on heavy SUVs and embedded CO2 of imported electric cars, BYD plans European factory and Nio opens battery swapping centres • Sustainability newsletter – December 2024 | Vauxhall electrifies Britain’s streets, a second life for electric car batteries and recycled Alcantara seat fabric combines luxury and sustainability • Sustainability newsletter – November 2023 | Costs for EV batteries fall, funding for UK-sourced lithium project, GM goes renewable and Lynk & Co commits to life cycle CO2 audits • Sustainability newsletter – October 2023 | Costs for EV batteries fall, funding for UK-sourced lithium project, GM goes renewable and Lynk & Co commits to life cycle CO2 audits • Sustainability newsletter – September 2023 | Erin Baker shares her thoughts on the UK's changing net zero targets and delaying the 2030 ban for new petrol and diesel cars. • Sustainability newsletter – August 2023 | Zapmap reports increased charger installations, Lime's e-mobility revolution and Nissan's autonomous driving • Sustainability newsletter – July 2023 | Public charging network expands, hydrogen back on the agenda and choosing green tyres • Sustainability newsletter – June 2023 | BMW helps electrify the UK’s national parks and Kia ditches leather across its range of cars • Sustainability newsletter – May 2023 | What upholstery will you be choosing for your next car - leather or pleather? • Sustainability newsletter – April 2023 | Polestar’s ‘moonshot’ for a zero emissions car and a look into synthetic fuels as a possible lifeline for internal combustion classics • Sustainability newsletter – February 2023 | Our regular sustainability round-up continues with a look at some new recycled materials this month, all of which could be in your car soon • Sustainability newsletter – January 2023 | Eco awareness is driving more and more car buying decisions for a variety of reasons -here we celebrate those doing it right!