印度也想统治电动车市场？先有矿再说吧

India’s ambition of becoming a global hub for makingfaces one major hurdle: its lack of access to lithium.

India is pivoting toward new-energy vehicles. Credit: Inhabitat

Home to some of the most polluted cities on the planet, the South Asian nation is pivoting toward new-energy vehicles to clean up its toxic air. But with meager resources of lithium, the mineral essential to make batteries for electric vehicles, it is having to scour for resources overseas.

India’s EV production will rely on imports from China of lithium chemicals used to make cathodes and battery cells, according to Jasmeet Singh Kalsi, director at Manikaran Power Ltd., which is exploring setting up India’s first lithium refinery. “China has a thriving lithium chemical, battery cathode, battery cell and EV supply chain. India has none.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration unveiled a slew of measures in 2019 to promote the clean-energy vehicles, including a $1.4 billion plan to make India a manufacturing hub for EVs and cutting taxes to spur purchases. While electric cars in India remain a small segment, with an estimated 3,000 sold in 2018 compared with the 3.4 million fossil fuel-powered cars in the same year, the nation is forecast become the fourth-largest market for EVs by 2040, when the segment will comprise nearly a third of all vehicles sales, according to BloombergNEF.

Import reliance

Several plans are under way to build lithium-ion battery factories in India. Meanwhile, China — the largest electric vehicle market in the world — is dominant in the battery supply chain. Around three-quarters of battery cell manufacturing capacity is in China, and Chinese companies have unparalleled control of required domestic and foreign battery raw materials and processing facilities, according to BNEF.

“Indian companies have been involved in trying to prospect for stakes in overseas resources, and possibly on-shoring more raw materials production capacity in India,” said Sophie Lu, head of metals and mining for BloombergNEF. “But there are very little synergies right now because further up the value chain, battery components manufacturing capacity does not seem to be planned extensively for India.”

A joint venture called Khanij Bidesh India Ltd. has been formed between three state-run companies — National Aluminium Co., Hindustan Copper Ltd. and Mineral Exploration Corp. — to acquire lithium and cobalt mines overseas. Amara Raja Batteries Ltd., the country’s second-biggest traditional battery maker by value, will build a lithium-ion assembly plant, while Suzuki Motor Corp. along with Toshiba Corp. and Denso Corp. is setting up a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant.

Manikaran signed an agreement with Australia’s Neometals in June to jointly fund the evaluation of developing a lithium refinery in India with a capacity of 10,000 tons to 15,000 tons of the finished product. That capacity falls short of India’s projected requirement of 200,000 tons of lithium hydroxide by 2030, Kalsi said.

Electric vehicles are “slowly going to take off, not with the speed the government perceives it to be, but going ahead the market is going to get pretty huge,” he said.

缺乏锂使印度在成为全球电动汽车制造中心的路上面临一个重要障碍。

这个南亚国家是地球上几个污染最严重的城市所在地，并正朝着使用新能源汽车清除其有毒空气的方向发展。但由于锂的资源贫乏，且锂是制造电动汽车电池必不可少的矿物，这让印度不得不在海外寻找资源。

Manikaran Power Ltd.董事Jasmeet Singh Kalsi表示，印度的电动汽车生产将依赖从中国进口的用于制造正极和电池的锂化学品，该公司正在探索建立印度的第一座锂精炼厂。“中国拥有蓬勃发展的锂化工，电池正极，电池芯和电动汽车供应链。印度没有。”

莫迪政府在2019年宣布了一系列促进清洁能源汽车的措施，其中包括一项14亿美元的计划，旨在使印度成为电动汽车的制造中心，并削减税收以刺激购买。尽管印度的电动汽车仍然是一小部分，预计2018年将售出3,000辆，而同年为340万辆以化石燃料为动力的汽车，但到2040年，印度将成为电动汽车的第四大市场。据彭博社报道，它将占所有汽车销量的近三分之一。

进口依赖

与此同时，正有几项在印度建立锂离子电池工厂的计划。另外，中国是世界上最大的电动汽车市场，在电池供应链中占主导地位。据BNEF称，约有四分之三的电池生产在中国，而中国公司对所需的国内外电池原材料和加工设施拥有无与伦比的控制权。

彭博新能源财经（BloombergNEF）的金属和矿业部负责人苏菲（Sophie Lu）表示：“印度公司一直在努力寻找海外资源的股权，并可能在印度增加原材料的生产能力。” “但是目前几乎没有协同作用，因为在价值链的更深层次上，印度似乎并未对电池组件的生产能力进行广泛的计划。”

三个国有公司 — 国家铝业公司、印度斯坦铜业有限公司和矿物勘探公司之间已成立了一家名为Khanij Bidesh印度有限公司的合资企业，以收购海外的锂和钴矿。按价值计算，印度第二大传统电池制造商Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.将建设一个锂离子电池组装厂，而Suzuki Motor Corp.，东芝公司和Denso Corp.则将建立一个锂离子电池制造厂。。

曼尼卡兰（Manikaran）于6月与澳大利亚的Neometals签署了一项协议，共同评估在印度开发一座产能为10,000吨至15,000吨成品的锂精炼厂的评估。卡尔西说，该产能不足以让印度在2030年之前预计的20万吨氢氧化锂的需求。

他还说，电动汽车“正在缓慢地起飞，而不是以政府认为的速度发展，但继续前进，市场将变得非常庞大。”

猜你喜欢：

1、重磅！中国工程院2019年院士增选结果！

2、整理丨自然资源相关法律法规汇总 没理由不收藏

3、突发丨西非加拿大矿业公司车队惨遭袭击 37死60多伤

4、定了！山东鑫海张云龙董事长要在中国国际矿业高峰论坛演讲啦

5、和田玉沦为行贿“硬通货”，中央重拳出击！

6、东南亚鲜为人知的重要海峡！

7、国家资源图解

8、《从金属期货走势看未来矿业投资方向》 且看地质大学肖荣阁教授如何解读

9、阳光创译主办的2019（第七届）中国国际矿业发展高峰论坛圆满闭幕

10、中国地质大学（北京）肖荣阁教授连续七届莅临由阳光创译主办的中国国  际矿业发展高峰论坛！

11、中国有色金属海外投资项目地图，未来哪些矿产利润最大？

12、矿从哪里来？带你重温元素周期表

14、总投资2038亿的高速公路即将开建！矿产品需求量巨大！

15、世界最美丽的矿石都在这里！

  相关业务需求即可致电下方相关责任人