EV

Queensland Pacific Metals has upgraded the focus of its finance strategy as it works towards a final investment decision for the $2.1 billion (USD 1.35 billion) fully approved battery materials project being developed near Townsville in northern Queensland.

As the energy storage trend unfolds, stories litter the media landscape about lithium-ion batteries catching fire, and even exploding. It’s a valid concern, and the time for consumers to understand a basic truth about lithium-ion batteries is long past due.

A new report by Climate Energy Finance has revealed Australia’s diesel Fuel Tax Credit Scheme disincentivises growth in future industries and will cost taxpayers $37 billion (USD 23.8b) in lost tax revenue by 2030. The report also illustrates how capping these rebates represents a multifaceted advantage for Australian manufacturing of low and zero-emission mining vehicles.

Jaguar Land Rover and Wykes Engineering are building a 2.5 MWh storage system with electric-vehicle batteries taken from Jaguar I-PACE cars. The large-scale system will store wind and solar at an undisclosed location in the United Kingdom.

Australian manufacturer Incat Tasmania is building the world’s largest all-electric ship at its yards in Hobart with the 130-metre-long vessel to be fitted with a 40 MWh battery energy storage system that will power a series of electric propulsion system and waterjets.

Australian mining major Fortescue is now testing a prototype battery-electric haul truck at its Christmas Creek iron ore mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Chinese battery industry heavyweight Contemporary Amperex Technology has unveiled a new electric vehicle battery that reportedly enables long-range driving on a fast, 10-minute charge. It expects mass production to begin by the end of this year, and vehicles equipped with the battery to be available in the first quarter of 2024.

South Australia’s Flinders University has launched a trial that will test bidirectional vehicle-to-grid charging technology that allows electric vehicles to either be recharged or used as batteries to provide back-up power to the grid.

Western Australia battery tech company Altech Batteries has raised $13.3 million (USD 8.7 million) to advance the development and commercialisation of its sodium-chloride solid state battery project and to progress construction of a silumina anodes battery materials plant in Germany.

South Australia’s planned transition to a zero-emissions public transport system has reached a major milestone with the electrification of the passenger rail line between Adelaide’s CBD and Gawler in the north now complete.