Ankur Khaitan , MD & CEO of TACC Limited , providing insights on anode supply chain outside China, competitive pricing complexities and silicon anode drivers at the FastMarkets 16th Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference 2024 in Las Vegas between 25th to 27th June.
Key takeaways:
- The key challenge for anode supply chain isn’t the availability of raw materials, but a proven technology and related expertise, an area which currently China dominates. Finding alternates with such process expertise is crucial.
- Developing a competitive anode supply chain will drive technological evolution & innovation, diversify supply chain risks and promote collaborative localisation of processes.
- Technological improvements must be continuously pursued, especially in processes like graphitization, which are not only technologically intensive but also complex when scaled up.
- Silicon is indeed a promising anode material, but due to scale-up challenges, its usage will be limited to a small percentage in silicon graphite composites to enhance performance.
- Irrespective of the CAPEX, pricing, being driven by many external factors, will largely depend on how countries like India, presenting their capabilities as alternative to China, are aligned with the EV incentive policies.
TACC Limited, backed with over 50 years of expertise in graphite technology, will play a key role in addressing these issues. With an operational industrial-scale demo plant and a 20,000 MT commercial plant scheduled for commissioning in 2025, we are all set to establish India as a key player in the battery material supply chains.
(Source: LinkedIn)