Electra Battery Materials, Wants To Build Electric Battery Specialist Factory Facility In Canada

Electra Battery Materials, build an integrated electric car battery. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA – Canada's First Cobalt wants to create the first specialist facility in North America to produce electric vehicle battery materials such as cathode chemicals. This was announced by the company on Sunday, November 7, when announcing the name change to Electra Battery Materials.

Automakers are racing to increase their electric vehicle offerings, which require quick and easy access to materials such as the cobalt and nickel used to make the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries to power those electric cars.

Some battery metals, such as nickel and cobalt, are already manufactured in North America, but the Electra facility could be the first to be dedicated exclusively to EV battery materials. The company aims to manufacture nickel and cobalt batteries and precursor chemicals for battery cathode components for North America.

Chief Executive Trent Mell expects Electra to produce cobalt sulfate in the fourth quarter of next year, which is also operational when the expanded hydrometallurgical battery recycling facility will produce 5,000 tonnes of cobalt.

"Globalization has created electric vehicle supply chains that are too long, too expensive, and increasingly unreliable," Mell said.

"Our automaker clients have a strong interest in greater supply chain localization to achieve greater reliability, long-term supply security, and a lower carbon footprint," added Mell.

Electra is in talks to secure nickel for a nickel sulfate facility by 2024-25 which, when combined with short-term cobalt output, could supply enough feedstock to build more than 1.5 million electric vehicles per year.

The Joe Biden administration's 100-day review of critical supply chains said earlier this year that the US government should invest in nickel refining capacity in coordination with its allies.

President Joko Widodo himself has offered car battery factory facilities to the US, considering that Indonesia is one of the largest nickel producers in the world. But there has been no official response from Joe Biden.