As the world gears up for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-29) in November this year, nations which are most vulnerable to climate change are launching and executing strategies to mitigate the extreme variability and erratic fluctuations in global weather.
Heather Allain, Executive Director, Materials Technology Institute (MTI), tells us about her passion for materials and the importance of MTI’s work to provide awareness of safe, reliable and sustainable materials use.
Today, EVs are not an uncommon sight on roads and parking lots in major markets thus making the idea of sustainable transportation seem feasible.
With global EV sales approaching 14 million cars in 2023 with a year-on-year growth rate of 35% it is clear that EVs are gaining acceptance rapidly.
In the drive towards a net-zero emission scenario, the market for Electric Vehicles has boomed over recent years. And this has resulted in a burgeoning used electric vehicle market.
The new EU Battery regulation has implications for nickel producers both inside and outside Europe. If they are supplying material to the EU battery chain destined for the European market all producers need to comply with the new rules.
This is the second article in a series on the impact of temperature on electric vehicles. Given the delivery waiting time for electric vehicles, you may be expecting to receive your EV in summer or next winter. This series has been developed to help you understand the implications of temperature.
According to International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, globally, road transport is responsible for about 16% of man-made CO2 emissions. Electrification of road transport is seen as a multipronged tool to deal with some of the world’s pressing issues such as air pollution and climate change. But for real impact, developing countries need to be part of the evolution to EVs .
Because the first step in reducing emissions is to measure them, the Nickel Institute has produced guidance to help nickel metal producers calculate their GHG emissions.
Given the delivery waiting time for electric vehicles, you may be expecting to receive your EV in winter or next summer. What are the implications of temperature on your vehicle?
Materials selection for any piece of equipment or a process system is rarely a simple task, unless you are exactly replicating something successful. Often engineers will have a checklist to help them narrow down the choices, eliminating groups of materials that are not suitable for various reasons. Austenitic 300 series stainless steels containing 7-35% nickel will have most if not all of the boxes checked for being suitable where a stainless steel is desired.
Each family of stainless steels has its strengths and weaknesses. Ferritic stainless steels have useful properties – a lower rate of thermal expansion, higher thermal conductivity, strong ferromagnetism and very high resistance to chloride stress corrosion cracking (SCC). When looking at selecting any alloys, it is important to consider all the factors for successful usage.
The duplex alloys are “problem-solving alloys” for good reason, they have been successfully used in many places where carbon steels and standard austenitic alloys have failed. Just like with the austenitic family, there are many different duplex alloys to choose from, with corrosion resistance varying from moderate with the lean duplex alloys to very high with the superduplex alloys.
The selection of an alloy should be guided by careful examination of the needs of the application. Before making a switch, it’s important to fully investigate an alloy’s strengths, weaknesses and applicability to your structure.
In 2021, China recorded the strongest growth in the EV market with around 3.2 million EVs sold. This was an increase of 2 million EV units compared to 2020 which was more than the combined increase of all other regions taken together.
The proposed Regulation will introduce a wide range of sustainability requirements and promote the recycling of key battery raw materials like nickel. EU legislative work is entering a crucial phase.
Think of the largest cruise ship. Then imagine how much it weighs – just over 100,000 tonnes, in fact. Now think about 500 of those ships, and what they weigh. That is the staggering amount of new electronic waste that we generate every year.
Electrification of light-duty vehicles is trending in many parts of the world and is on track to become a consumer driven phenomenon but let’s not forget the heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks and buses.
Even small quantities of nickel in an application can make a big difference to successful deployment.
“There’s a mental hurdle to get over of how inherently gross this could be, but we know that this water is safe, and we stand by our process.”
Charging Infrastructure is the backbone of the EV revolution. Parul Chhabra explains how the transformation in road transportation brought about by a shift towards E-mobility is causing pathbreaking changes along the value chain.
As electric vehicles (EVs) trend from being niche to mass scale and the lines between EVs and their combustion engine (ICE) counterparts get blurred in terms of usability, consumers, automakers, governments and fire departments continue to have some apprehensions.
A new generation of designers, materials specifiers, architects and engineers is being introduced to the wealth of technical information curated by the Nickel Institute. An archive of technical guides and know-how for working with nickel-containing materials, including stainless steel, that has been built over thirty years is now being updated and made freely available.
Parul Chhabra argues that attaining mass scale potential of electric vehicles will be determined by satisfying consumer concerns which go beyond pro-environment government policies.
Although market analysts believe that low oil prices will not derail the shift that has started towards clean mobility, the automobile sector including EVs has not been immune to the impact of Covid-19.
The short answer is: yes, nickel can be a sustainable material throughout the entire value chain, from mining, manufacturing, to use and end of life – if all actors throughout the value chain step up and take their responsibility. Now let's look at the longer answer...
Most nickel production is destined for stainless steel. But a significant 8% is used in the production of alloy steels which are needed to deliver specific characteristics for specialised and often critical applications.
Should we be worried about there being enough nickel to supply the transition to electric vehicles and cleaner energy sources? Given its wide range of uses in important existing and emerging technologies, this is a frequently asked question.