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The joint development agreement will leverage Northern Graphite’s expertise in mining, milling, shaping and purifying natural graphite, and Rain’s portfolio of battery-grade carbon precursor materials and coating technologies, according to an announcement last week.
The project aims to replace synthetic graphite with natural graphite in EV battery cells to reduce carbon emissions and production costs, as well as to address the stability gap between natural and synthetic graphite. The new BAM will improve charging speed, extend battery cycle life and reduce electrode swelling in EV li-ion batteries, the companies said.
The partnership also seeks to enhance supply chain independence by increasing production capacity and coatings availability outside of China.
“Today, China supplies more than 90% of the materials, so if and when we are able to start commercializing the product in 2027, we will impact the supply chain by adding production capacity to support the market that today doesn’t exist,” Jacquemin said.
He emphasized that the project’s goal is not only to boost the availability of natural graphite produced outside of China, but also to secure the entire supply chain from mine to battery by leveraging Rain Carbon’s coating capabilities in Europe and Canada.
Northern Graphite’s Battery Materials Group (NGCBM) laboratory in Frankfurt, Germany, will produce the BAM using graphite from the company’s Lac-des-Îles mine in Canada. Rain Carbon will provide coating technologies from its facility in Hamilton, Canada. The NGCBM, launched in February, is equipped to test the new material according to automakers’ specifications.
Jacquemin also noted that Northern Graphite is working on graphite purification for this joint development.
Pav Jordan, the company’s vice president of communications, said it is “in a race” to become the first fully integrated mine-to-battery producer in North America.
“There’s a void in the West for processing capacity. We’re trying to fill this void, and we have a first mover advantage to do it,” Jordan said.
This agreement comes at a time when the US is imposing new trade restrictions. The Office of the United States Trade Representative finalized changes to the Section 301 tariffs a month ago, imposing a 25% tariff on lithium-ion EV battery imports from China and a 100% tariff on electric vehicles (EVs) from September 27, 2024.
Earlier this month, Fastmarkets launched a monthly price assessment for graphite flake 94% C, -100 mesh, cif US ports, $/tonne, to meet interest in a price reference for the natural graphite flake that is used in the anode supply chain for EV batteries in the US. The first assessment was $700-850 per tonne on October 3.
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