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http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/06/f23/Lithium-ion%20Battery%20CEMAC.pdf
Vertical Integration
Indigenous resources
Critical To Quality (CTQ) - purity
Lots of interesting information in the presentation. It doesn't put ZEN in any particular "light", only what the reader wants to infer.
Interesting industry IMO.
Can't help you with how much graphite in a single car battery. I believe this varies by manufacturer and the specifics of the battery required.
Here is a a paper done by David L Woods and Claus Daniels from ORNL (2014/15). Lots of neat information about batteries in this paper. Notice table 2 identifies the cost of the graphite anode to be $9/lb (~$18K/ton).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037877531401845X
If the goal is to get to under $100/kwh or even $150/kwh for battery manufacturers, one way to do so is to vertically integrate the raw materials. Another is to mass produce (i.e. gigafactory), or improve the efficiency of the battery.
If battery manufacturers are paying $9/lb for anode graphite and synthetic is producing $6-8K/ton. That's a pretty healthy profit margin. So if ZEN's graphite is comparable to compete with synthetic, but a cost of $2K ($2700 if include capex over 22 year mine life) that's a significant savings per ton (from synthetic costs and even moreso against battery manufacturers costs). Is there further processing required? Who knows, but there is a lot of wiggle-room in cost to improve the graphite if necessary.
Hope to hear more about Dr. Chahar's market development.
On the flipside, if an battery manufacturer wanted ZEN what do others think they would pay? They probably don't want to sell the product except to a 100% owned subsidiary.
To secure 633K tons of graphite (given 99.9+%, and environmentally benign process):
$450M capex (assume eat all contingency)
NPV of operating cost $1B (capex $450M year 0, cost of $2046 x 30,000 tonnes/year, 10% discount, 22 mine life)
$1B/633,000 graphite = ~$1580/ton today's cost to produce 99.9% purified graphite for 22 years.
So assuming purity, crystallinity, etc meet your requirements (as a battery manufacturer) and you are now building a megafactory (or building capacity of existing factories) and require a large supply, would you buy 633K tons at $1580/ton today (upfront cost) for 22 years of graphite? If ZEN sells the deposit, they probably want a premium. What about $2000, $3000, etc?
I haven't read many posts lately, so i am probably regurgitating what others may have speculated on...but i just did it with poor math skills (my error rate is +/- $1B) :)
Here's a target market that could be potential for Zenyatta to break into with the remaining %: Carbon nanotubes.
Dr. Chahar, until last year, was on the Board for SouthWest Nanotechnology. Not sure why the reasons he left, but conflicting interests could be one reason (that "but" is a whole lotta speculation). It's a big, growing business segment, and for the small remaining percentage of graphite may be more than enough for that sector.
Anyways, it a potential market, and i'm not entirely convinced that nuclear will be revealed as the 4th.
So in yesterday's NR, there was nothing noting that graphite is used in lithium-ion batteries, or fuel cells, but AE did specifically mention energy storage in the main body of the NR.
Aubrey Eveleigh, President & CEO at Zenyatta commented, “SGS has developed a relatively benign purification process from an environmentally benign deposit to produce highly crystalline graphite exceeding 99.9% purity. Feedback from the market, including potential strategic partners in the CleanTech sector, suggests that environmental considerations are critical when sourcing raw materials for today’s high tech applications like energy storage.”
Not sure if ZEN's NRs are masters in subtility, or a bit inconsistent. Another clue, or a red herring?
A few links on energy storage (specifically Bloom Energy).
http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/energy-server/
Solid oxide fuel cells operate at high temps, therefore, there may be an opportunity for graphite to help improve electrical efficiency.
Who does Alex Mezei follow on LinkedIn? Tesla and Bloom Energy.
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/alex-mezei/9/386/a44
Always interesting to learn what others are interested in.
Was it Bloom Energy or Ballard (or other) that Zenyatta was going to work with to build actual components with Albany graphite? Who knows, but I hope it's progressing in a positive manner.