Mining

Copper: The Essential Metal (Part I)

Published

12 years ago

July 17, 2012

Jeff Desjardins

Copper is one of the most widely used metals on the planet, and has been for more than 10,000 years. It’s history is rich and distinctive as its unique colour, and it is now indispensable in modern society.

What Makes Copper Different?

Pure copper is ductile – it can be easily stretched and shaped into different forms
Highly conductive – copper conducts heat and electricity more effectively than all other metals save one: silver.
100% Recyclable – 80% of copper ever mined is still in use today.
Highly Alloyable – there are currently more than 570 different known copper alloys, and 350 have been acknowledged as antimicrobial.
Colour: Copper unique reddish-orange hue is beautiful and easily identifiable. In fact, gold and osmium are the only other elemental metals with colours other than silver/grey.

The average single family home in North America uses:

195 pounds – building wire
151 pounds – plumbing tube, fittings, valves
24 pounds – plumbers’ brass goods
47 pounds – built-in appliances
12 pounds – builders hardware
10 pounds – other wire and tube

Not only that, there are virtually zero substitutes for copper in its applications. Only silver is a beter conductor, and is over 100x times more expensive.

Copper today is now the nervous system of our cities, homes, tools and toys. The simple truth is that the western lifestyle is completely dependent on copper.

Related Topics:copper conductivity history VC exclusive

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Ranked: The Top 10 EV Battery Manufacturers in 2023

Asia dominates this ranking of the world’s largest EV battery manufacturers in 2023.

Published

1 day ago

April 22, 2024

Bruno Venditti

The Top 10 EV Battery Manufacturers in 2023

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Despite efforts from the U.S. and EU to secure local domestic supply, all major EV battery manufacturers remain based in Asia.

In this graphic we rank the top 10 EV battery manufacturers by total battery deployment (measured in megawatt-hours) in 2023. The data is from EV Volumes.

Chinese Dominance

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) has swiftly risen in less than a decade to claim the title of the largest global battery group.

The Chinese company now has a 34% share of the market and supplies batteries to a range of made-in-China vehicles, including the Tesla Model Y, SAIC’s MG4/Mulan, and various Li Auto models.

Company	Country	2023 Production (megawatt-hour)	Share of Total Production
CATL	🇨🇳 China	242,700	34%
BYD	🇨🇳 China	115,917	16%
LG Energy Solution	🇰🇷 Korea	108,487	15%
Panasonic	🇯🇵 Japan	56,560	8%
SK On	🇰🇷 Korea	40,711	6%
Samsung SDI	🇰🇷 Korea	35,703	5%
CALB	🇨🇳 China	23,493	3%
Farasis Energy	🇨🇳 China	16,527	2%
Envision AESC	🇨🇳 China	8,342	1%
Sunwoda	🇨🇳 China	6,979	1%
Other	-	56,040	8%

In 2023, BYD surpassed LG Energy Solution to claim second place. This was driven by demand from its own models and growth in third-party deals, including providing batteries for the made-in-Germany Tesla Model Y, Toyota bZ3, Changan UNI-V, Venucia V-Online, as well as several Haval and FAW models.

The top three battery makers (CATL, BYD, LG) collectively account for two-thirds (66%) of total battery deployment.

Once a leader in the EV battery business, Panasonic now holds the fourth position with an 8% market share, down from 9% last year. With its main client, Tesla, now sourcing batteries from multiple suppliers, the Japanese battery maker seems to be losing its competitive edge in the industry.

Overall, the global EV battery market size is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2022 to $98 billion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights.