We’re back with yet another battery material that could fall into short supply. This week it’s the often-overlooked manganese.

Manganese is a transition metal—like iron, nickel, and cobalt—used in the cathode of some lithium-ion batteries, such as the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cells used in the majority of EVs today.

Quality over quantity

Currently, the vast majority of manganese—more than 90%—goes to the iron and stainless-steel industry, while less than 1% is used for batteries, according to Umicore. But demand for battery-grade manganese sulfate is expected to exceed supply capacity this year, according to BloombergNEF.

“Is the industry ready at the [manganese] sulfate level? The answer is no,” Kwasi Ampofo, head of metals and mining at BNEF, told Emerging Tech Brew. If they don’t do something by next year, that is also going to be a chokepoint.”

So far, the first-generation Nissan Leaf has been the only EV on the market using high-manganese cells, but researchers and automakers—including Tesla and Volkswagen—are starting to look to manganese as an alternative to high-cobalt chemistries.

Processing push: As with other battery materials, China controls a large share of the manganese market, producing more than 90% of the battery-grade manganese sulfate today. But unlike the lithium crunch, it’s the processing capacity—not the mining operations—that needs to catch up to meet battery industry demand, Ampofo said.

• Producing the battery-grade manganese sulfate powder is technically complex and a nascent part of the larger industry. Additionally, due to safety concerns in batteries, materials like manganese need to be produced at the highest purity possible, Ampofo said.

“To build a factory that will guarantee you that level of purity is quite a capital-intensive project,” he said.

Read the full story here.—GD

Indoor farming operations might be sprouting, but it isn’t all growth, all the time.

In its first financial report since becoming a publicly traded company in June, vertical farming outfit Kalera released its Q2 earnings this month with total revenue of $1.3 million and a net loss of $78.7 million, which the company attributed in part to “a one-time non-cash expense for goodwill impairment of $64.3 million, the change in fair value for the contingent value rights earnout of $17.3 million, and a one-time expense of $7.5 million related to the closing of the Agrico business combination and Nasdaq listing.”

The company has operational farms in Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, and Houston, as well as an international location in Kuwait, and it sells its greens to grocers like Kroger and Publix.

Growing pains

Kalera CEO and president Jim Leighton said the company was suspending the opening of new facilities in Hawaii, Minnesota, Ohio, and Washington State. Leighton said the company’s new focus will be on achieving profitability for its existing farms, which Leighton hopes to do by the end of 2023.

Economic outlook: Leighton insisted that the move was not influenced by fluctuations in the market, which are affecting other industries like space, climate tech, and AI, but was instead driven by a need to achieve profitability.

• “For us to grow and to be successful and to serve our purpose…we need to figure out how this economic engine works so we can reach sustainable margins for reinvestment, for growth. We’re not just using investors’ money to grow, we’re using our own money that is basically created organically from the business model which we created,” Leighton said.

For Kalera, the obligations of being a public company and to its shareholders are paramount in its decisions, according to Leighton, who said, “As a publicly traded company, I think you have a greater responsibility, because you’re using a wider base of funds from who knows whom. We obviously know who our major shareholders are, but anybody can invest in Kalera. We have a responsibility to do the harder right versus the easier wrong.”

Read more about Kalera’s growth outlook here.—JM

While we wait with bated breath for a national EV charging network, the key word is national.

A report from the Fuels Institute’s Electric Vehicle Council outlined the states with the greatest need for EV charging investments through 2030, based on factors like consumer demographics, local housing and regulations, along with current and projected EV ownership.

Winner, winner: California was named priority No. 1, since it’s home to ~41% of all EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the US.

• Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Texas are the second priority states, due to their high rates of EV growth and large populations.

The third priority group may include some surprises since these states have relatively low EV ownership today, but Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming are expected to see “astronomical percentage growth rates” in EV adoption by 2030, according to the report.

Big picture: More than 18 million EVs are expected to be on the road in the US by 2030, requiring ~1.7 million EV charging stations across the country, according to the report. The bipartisan infrastructure law includes $7.5 billion for EV charging as the Biden administration aims to build a national network of 500,000 chargers by the end of the decade.—GD

Stat: The war in Ukraine puts food security at risk for up to 250 million people, or 3% of the global population, according to McKinsey.

Quote: “There’s a non-zero chance we’ll have a launch opportunity on Friday. We’re going to play all nine innings here. We’re not ready to give up yet.”—Michael Sarafin, Artemis mission manager, after the Artemis I launch was postponed on Monday

Read: Researchers are using a particle accelerator to answer questions about the origins of printing. The Gutenberg press may not be the whole story when it comes to the birth of this technology.

Snap poll: Have you watched a concert livestreamed in the metaverse?

Yes
No

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Here’s how AI could transform the US power grid
• NASA shoots for the moon as private companies reach for the stars
• Meet the company working with the Air Force to detect deepfakes