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The following content is sponsored by Scotch Creek Ventures.
The demand for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) is rising rapidly—it’s set to reach 9,300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) by 2030—up by over 1,600% from 2020 levels.
For that reason, developing domestic battery supply chains, including battery manufacturing capacity, is becoming increasingly important as countries strive to shift away from gasoline vehicles to EVs.
Which countries are leading the race for batteries? The above infographic from Scotch Creek Ventures highlights the top 10 nations for EV battery manufacturing.
The biggest battery manufacturers are located in regions that have high demand for EVs, and that have wide access to raw materials:
Data as of February 1, 2021. Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
China is by far the leader in the battery race with nearly 80% of global Li-ion manufacturing capacity. The country also dominates other parts of the battery supply chain, including the mining and refining of battery minerals like lithium and graphite.
The U.S. is following China from afar, with around 6% or 44 GWh of global manufacturing capacity. Tesla and Panasonic’s Giga Nevada accounts for the majority of it with 37 GWh of annual capacity, making it the world’s largest battery manufacturing plant.
European countries collectively make up for 68 GWh or around 10% of global battery manufacturing. Moreover, Hungary and Poland also make the top five, hosting plants owned by large battery manufacturers like SK Innovation and LG Chem.
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, global lithium-ion manufacturing capacity is expected to more than double by 2025.
Here’s how the top 10 countries could stack up in 2025:
Although China is expected to come out on top again, its share of worldwide capacity could fall to around 65% as other countries ramp up battery production. For instance, Germany’s capacity is projected to rise to 164 GWh, representing a 15-fold increase in just four years.
Furthermore, the U.S. is expected to more than double its capacity by 2025. In fact, 13 new plants are expected to be operational in the next five years, providing a boost to domestic EV battery manufacturing capabilities.
It’s important to note that the battery industry is evolving rapidly, and these rankings could change as manufacturers set up shop in different countries. However, it’s clear that both battery demand and manufacturing capacity are set to grow. And more batteries require more raw materials—especially critical metals like lithium.
Global lithium demand from battery factories could hit 3 million tonnes by 2030, requiring a massive increase over the 82,000 tonnes produced in 2020. As countries like the U.S. ramp up battery manufacturing, new sources of lithium could prove increasingly valuable in building sustainable battery supply chains.
Scotch Creek Ventures is developing two lithium mining projects in Clayton Valley, Nevada, to supply lithium for the green future.
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The U.S. alone generates ∼12 million tons of asphalt shingles tear-off waste and installation scrap every year and more than 90% of it is dumped into landfills.
Asphalt, also known as bitumen, has various applications in the modern economy, with annual demand reaching 110 million tons globally.
Until the 20th century, natural asphalt made from decomposed plants accounted for the majority of asphalt production. Today, most asphalt is refined from crude oil.
This graphic, sponsored by Northstar Clean Technologies, shows how new technologies to reuse and recycle asphalt can help protect the environment.
Pollution from vehicles is expected to decline as electric vehicles replace internal combustion engines.
But pollution from asphalt could actually increase in the next decades because of rising temperatures in some parts of the Earth. When subjected to extreme temperatures, asphalt releases harmful greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.
Asphalt paved surfaces and roofs make up approximately 45% and 20% of surfaces in U.S. cities, respectively. Furthermore, 75% of single-family detached homes in Canada and the U.S. have asphalt shingles on their roofs.
Similar to roads, asphalt shingles have oil as the primary component, which is especially harmful to the environment.
Shingles do not decompose or biodegrade. The U.S. alone generates ∼12 million tons of asphalt shingles tear-off waste and installation scrap every year and more than 90% of it is dumped into landfills, the equivalent of 20 million barrels of oil.
But most of it can be reused, rather than taking up valuable landfill space.
Using technology, the primary components in shingles can be repurposed into liquid asphalt, aggregate, and fiber, for use in road construction, embankments, and new shingles.
Providing the construction industry with clean, sustainable processing solutions is also a big business opportunity. Canada alone is a $1.3 billion market for recovering and reprocessing shingles.
Northstar Clean Technologies is the only public company that repurposes 99% of asphalt shingles components that otherwise go to landfills.
Cultured meat could become a $25 billion market by 2030, but investment into the technologies that underpin the industry is required.
Cultured foods—also known as cell-based foods—are expected to turn our global food system as we know it on its head.
In fact, the cultured meat market is estimated to reach an eye-watering $25 billion by 2030 according to McKinsey, but only if it can overcome hurdles such as price parity and consumer acceptance. To do so, significant innovation in the science behind these products will be crucial for the industry’s growth.
In the graphic above from our sponsor CULT Food Science, we provide a visual overview of some of the technologies behind the creation of cultured meat products.
To start, cultured meat is defined as a genuine animal meat product that is created by cultivating animal cells in a controlled lab environment—eliminating the need to farm animals for food almost entirely.
“Cultured meat has all the same fat, muscles, and tendons as any animal…All this can be done with little or no greenhouse gas emissions, aside from the electricity you need to power the land where the process is done.” —Bill Gates
Because cultured meat is made of the same cell types and structure found in animal tissue, the sensory and nutritional profiles are like-for-like. Let’s dive into how these products are made.
The main challenge facing the cultured meat market is producing products at scale. But thanks to the vast amount of research in the stem cell biology space, the science behind cultured foods is not entirely new.
Given that we are in the very early days of applying these learnings to producing food products, those looking to invest in companies contributing to the industry’s growth stand to benefit. Here is an overview of some of the technologies that underpin the industry that you should know:
This is the process of using living cells and their components to create new products. According to experts like the Good Food Institute, bioprocess design holds the key to unlocking cultured meat production at scale.
Specifically, innovation in bioreactor (where the cells grow) design represents a massive opportunity for companies and investors alike.
Tissue engineering techniques are used to produce cultured meat that resembles real meat textures and flavors. The first step is taking tissue from the animal for the purpose of extracting stem cells and creating cell lines.
The extracted stem cell lines are then cultivated in a nutrient rich environment, mimicking in-animal tissue growth and producing muscle fibers inside a bioreactor. The muscle fibers are processed and mixed with additional fats and ingredients to assemble the finished meat product.
Cell lines refer to the different types of cells that can be propagated repeatedly and sometimes indefinitely.
Access to cell lines is a major challenge facing the industry today and is an area that requires significantly more research. This is because there is not just one cell type that can be used in cellular agriculture to produce cultured food products.
Cells (or cell cultures) require very specific environmental conditions. Cell culture media is a gel or liquid that contains the nutrients needed to support growth outside of the body.
More research in this space is needed to determine optimized formulations and make these products more affordable.
Scaffolds are 3D cell culture platforms that mimic the structure of complex biological tissues, such as skeletal muscle. This platforms can be created through the use of 3D Bioprinting.
Scaffolds are predominantly made up of collagen and gelatin. The problem is these are both animal-derived ingredients which defeats the purpose of cell-based products. Therefore, more sustainable plant-derived options are also being explored.
CULT Food Science is an innovative investment platform advancing the technology behind the future of food with an exclusive focus on cultured meat, cultured dairy, and cell-based foods.
The company’s global portfolio spans four continents and includes exposure to a diverse pipeline:
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