Altech Chemicals in box seat to cash in on soaring EV demand as fuel prices heat up

Highlights

• More Aussies are being attracted to electric vehicles as rising fuel prices continue to burn a hole in their pockets.
• Altech Chemicals has achieved a breakthrough in enhancing the performance and energy capacity of Li-ion batteries.
• The revolutionary technology will boost the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries by 30% with the inclusion of silicon in anode material.

Within six and a half minutes, the entire lot of the 109 Hyundai’s new Ioniq 5 electric sports utility vehicles (SUVs) was sold out in Australia. The electric car witnessed an overwhelming response with nearly 18,000 Australians registering their interest in the vehicle, of which just 109 lucky ones actually secured the keys to the SUV. Interestingly, Australians showed such an impressive response for a vehicle that was priced at a whopping AU$80,000. 

Related read: Here’s why Altech Chemicals is making the headlines these days

Notably, gasoline prices in Australia have shown a sharp spike of more than 50% in recent months, providing Australians with a reasonable rationale to switch to electric vehicles (EVs).  

The concerns around the climate change coupled with the soaring fuel prices are driving the demand for EVs to record levels.  

Many models of Tesla have an average waiting period of up to a year for delivery of a new vehicle in the US. Currently, in Australia, the demand for EVs easily supersedes the supply. Many analysts believe that escalating demand for EVs may eventually lead to a greater good and will result in greater energy independence and a much faster path to net-zero emissions. 

An Australian chemical company, Altech Chemicals Limited (ASX:ATC|FRA:A3Y), is working in the direction to revolutionise the current Li-ion battery industry. The Company has already achieved a breakthrough, resulting in a 30% increase in the energy capacity of the conventional Li-ion batteries. It is a significant development as it would help increase the range of EVs and potentially lower their costs. 

Related read: Altech Chemicals (ASX:ATC) partners with Germany’s Küttner for pilot plant development

Altech’s revolutionary technology involves treating silicon and graphite with high purity alumina (HPA) using the proprietary technology of Altech. Then, silicon is introduced to the graphite anode, which does the real magic. 

The battery industry has long known that silicon has nearly 10 times the energy capacity, compared to graphite. But silicon possesses two basic problems – firstly, it swells up to 300% on charging and secondly, silicon deactivates a high percentage of the lithium ions in a battery. Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has talked about using silicon in Li-batteries to make them more energy-efficient and increase their longevity. 

Moving one step further, Altech is in the process of constructing a 10,000 tpa facility in Saxony, Germany, for manufacturing the battery anode material using its proprietary technology. The Company has already acquired the land, and work is advancing on a pilot plant currently. 

 Land handover ceremony in Germany (Image source: ATC update, 20 January 2022) 

Related read: Altech Chemicals (ASX:ATC) unveils pilot plant design for battery anode materials 

Altech’s battery anode material plant in Germany aligns well with Tesla’s recently launched Gigafactory in Berlin. Elon Musk highlighted that achieving scale is the key to making a complete switch from a fossil fuel-based economy towards a sustainable future.  

Altech’s potentially game-changing technology has demonstrated that silicon could be modified to solve the issues pertaining to the capacity fading due to swelling and first-cycle-loss capacity problems. It took around one year for the researchers headed by Dr Jingyuan Liu at the Company’s R&D lab in Perth to finally crack the silicon problem.

Related read: Altech Chemicals (ASX:ATC) advances green bond offering for HPA plant

Research going on in Perth lab (Image source: Company update, 31 January 2022)

Altech is now working on a war footing to bring its innovative battery anode material to the market. The average energy retention capacity of ATC’s lithium-ion battery anode material is ~430 mAh/g, 30% higher than the normal Li-ion battery anode, which has a capacity of 330 mAh/g.

Altech is well-positioned to reap the benefits of soaring oil prices and the burgeoning European EV market. The United Kingdom has placed a ban on sales of new petrol cars till 2030. South Korea has same ban in position till 2025. Several other countries are providing incentives on purchase of EVs. With its 10,000tpa upcoming plant in Germany, ATC looks all set to gain the early-mover benefits.