Q&A WITH JON JACOBS OF WESTWATER RESOURCES

Q Charged: Graphite’s a hot property these days. Tell us about Westwater’s plans.

A Jon Jacobs: Westwater Resources is positioned to be the only vertically integrated natural graphite supplier in the United States. Prior to my joining Westwater, I was really naive about the importance of graphite and the fact that none of it is currently produced in the US. Much like lithium was ten years ago, graphite is a sleeping giant that is about to get a big awakening. e growing EV market and the IRA are now driving incredible demand for domestically produced graphite.

If you spend time in the battery industry, you’ll nd most of the discussion is about new and promising next-generation materials like silicon anodes or lithium metal. Yet, these technologies still face major technical challenges. Meanwhile, in terms of material by weight, there’s more graphite in a battery than anything else. Today, over 75% of all the battery graphite comes from China. Unbelievably, none of it currently comes from the US.

Along comes the In ation Reduction Act. It’s amazing what the IRA is driving in terms of new companies and investment. Take Westwater as an example. Westwater transitioned from mining uranium, of all things, to becoming a graphite anode producer—all because of these new trade rules.

Fast forward to today and Westwater is building a graphite plant in Alabama, and people are eager to buy our capacity. How much more are people willing to pay to get US graphite compared to Chinese suppliers? Natural graphite from China sells for about $7 a kilogram, yet companies setting up factories in the US are willing to pay more than that to get graphite domestically if it meets the IRA requirements. is is roughly how the math works: In 2023, 40% of the critical materials in your battery must be “produced” in the United States or one a few designated free-trade partner countries. “Produced” refers to the percentage of value added during production. By 2027, the critical material requirement will increase to 80%. ere’s an additional factor to consider too. e IRA value won’t necessarily be the same at every cell maker, as it’s not a linear calculation. For example, if a cell maker purchases 45% of its battery materials from IRA sources but is still 5% short overall, the company might be willing to pay a lot more to get that nal 5% because that determines whether it gets the entire credit or not.

Now, if you look at just the materials half of the $7,500 tax credit, there’s $3,750 available, and graphite is on a short list of critical materials, along with lithium, cobalt, nickel and a few others. If you do the math and make some assumptions, it means $550-600 of the total tax credit is attributable just to graphite. For US cars with 80 kWh packs, cell makers should be willing to pay as much as $7 per kilogram more than non-IRA sources just to get anode material from the United States.

Of course, a material supplier like Westwater will need to share the IRA value with the cell maker, the OEM and the end customer, so the real premium will be lower. But without the IRA, it would be di cult for a US company to stand up a facility and compete with China. To be fair, China got most of its battery business o the ground due to government subsidies of its own.

Q Charged: Tell us about the processing plant Westwater is building in rural Alabama.

A Jon Jacobs: e plant is under construction in east-central Alabama in a town called Kellyton, conveniently located in the growing US Battery Belt. Prior to Westwater, the only major employer in the area was Russell Athletic, a company that makes jerseys and sporting apparel. At one time, Russell employed over 7,000 people in this area. Over the years, however, Russell moved most of its jobs elsewhere, leaving this beautiful part of Alabama in a lurch. I’ve heard as many as half the residents in the a ected area moved away. Fortunately, the battery industry and the IRA are about to change everything, along with some good fortune that one of the battery industry’s most important minerals just happens to exist in that same area. Westwater’s plant will likely employ many of the people nearby. Who knows, maybe we’ll ask Russell to make our uniforms! It’s a great US story—the government got it right with the IRA, and it’s already generating tangible e ects. ere was also a long-antici-

Q Charged: You recently signed a joint development agreement with SK On, a South Korean battery manufacturer that’s operating two EV battery plants in Georgia, and is building several more in the Southeast.

A Jon Jacobs: Yes, and we hope to strike similar JDAs with other cell makers too. Every cell maker, because they’ve been using graphite for 40 years, has their own proprietary twist. at’s what the JDA is about—SK will come into our plant and say, “Okay, for our material, we want you to do this extra thing.” Another cell maker might ask us to do a di erent extra thing. A JDA enables us to openly collaborate with our customers to produce the speci c material they want.

Q Charged: ere’s some controversy around the IRA in Washington. For some reason Joe Manchin’s mad about it, and he was threatening to vote to repeal it.

Jon Jacobs: e main thing I’m hearing is that the rules pertaining to Chinese company involvement aren’t totally clear. SK, LG and SDI announced joint ventures, and that they’re going to build plants in the US, and nobody has an issue with that. Meanwhile, a few Chinese companies want to build plants in the US, but the reply from di erent states is inconsistent. Some say, “No way—I’m not going to support you.” Other states, like Michigan, say, “Your money’s as good as anybody else’s, so you’re welcome here.” ere may not be a consistent response here until the IRA language is fully vetted.

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CoolTherm pated update to the IRA language on March 31. An added restriction was placed on things like nickel, cobalt, lithium and graphite, requiring the initial mining to occur outside of China regardless of how much value-added processing occurs later. If interpreted correctly, that’s an added game-changer for Westwater with our rights to the largest graphite deposit in the contiguous US. e processing of the feedstock into nished anode material is well understood. e Chinese have been doing this for decades. Although our overall process is similar, we are using what we believe to be superior manufactur- ing equipment and more sustainable processes, without the use of harmful acids. e basic steps involve reduction of the graphite particle size, turning it into spheres, removing contaminants and coating the surface of the nished material. e overall processing steps also take a couple days. So to answer your question, the two general steps are similar in duration.

Q Charged: Are there going to be enough of these materials that manufacturers can source from places that will meet the requirements?

A Jon Jacobs: at’s tough to predict, but it’s not going to be easy. To put things in perspective, Westwater will produce 7,500 metric tons per year of natural graphite a er our Phase 1 construction is complete. Just one of SK’s plants in Kentucky or Georgia or Tennessee would require roughly that amount of graphite. Although Westwater will increase capacity to over 40,000 MT/year in 2028, there aren’t a lot of other IRA-compliant options available. I believe global EV market growth requires that 6-8 new gigafactories be built every year for the foreseeable future. ese plants are going to require a lot of battery materials from somewhere other than China.

Now, add to that the ratcheting factor of the IRA. In 2024, only 50% of the critical materials need to be IRA-compliant. is then increases 10% each year until it reaches 80% in 2027. We and others intend to boost our capacity over time, but it will require awless execution to keep material supply in line with demand.

Q Charged: Is the post-processing the slow part, or is it actually digging it out of the ground or scraping it o the surface?

A Jon Jacobs: Once graphite is extracted from the ground, it must be puri ed, which usually takes place at the mine location. is can all take a couple days, plus several months to ship it from remote locations around the world to wherever it will be processed. In our case, the resulting feedstock material will be conveniently trucked 30 minutes up the road to our Kellyton processing plant to be converted into battery-grade anode material.

Q Charged: How much graphite, and what kinds, go into a cell?

A Jon Jacobs: at’s a good question. In a 60 kWh EV battery pack, there’s roughly 50 kg of graphite. Graphite comes in two avors. ere’s natural graphite, which is what Westwater produces, and there’s arti cial or synthetic graphite, which is made, ironically, from oil re ning by-products. Most batteries today are produced using a blend of natural and arti cial graphite. Overall usage of each type by volume varies from year to year, but it’s roughly 50/50. e downside to arti cial graphite is that it’s nearly double the cost of natural graphite, but companies use it because it can o er cycle life advantages. Like any industry though, cell makers are incentivized to use lower-cost materials. erefore, companies are still nding ways to improve natural graphite, and momentum is arguably in its favor.

Q Charged: Is any of the synthetic graphite produced in the US?

A Jon Jacobs: ere are a few companies ramping up production now, including Novonix and Anovion.

Q Charged: So, all of your direct competitors will import the raw material from somewhere else?

A Jon Jacobs: I suppose that’s true if you’re talking about natural graphite competitors within the US. is is why we view the Coosa deposit as a long-term competitive advan- tage. It reduces graphite feedstock supply risk with the potential to lower costs from vertical integration.

Q Charged: Are there no other deposits anywhere in the US where you could start a mine?

A Jon Jacobs: ere are small deposits in Texas, and I think there is a company that has one up in the Adirondacks. ere’s one deposit larger than ours in Alaska, but it’s likely too expensive given its remote location.

Q Charged: e activity is so great now that I’m starting to think that pressure from the industry will prevent the politicians from reversing the IRA in the future. ere’s so many ribbon-cuttings going on right now, especially in the Battery Belt in the southern states, which presumably would be the people who would overturn it if they get power in a few years.

A Jon Jacobs: I agree the IRA is probably here to stay. It is clearly working to generate investment and jobs across the US. is should appeal to both political parties in a large number of states, so I don’t think it will go away.

Q Charged: e EU has to come up with some kind of response, right? Otherwise, everything will be made here and shipped to Europe.

A Jon Jacobs: It’s funny—Europe started pumping money into battery infrastructure three or four years ago while the US was doing very little. e IRA has now put the US back into the spotlight. It wouldn’t surprise me if Europe sweetens its own legislation related to EV tax credits to compete with what’s happening here. If they don’t, most new material and cell production investment could go to the US. at said, there’s a lot of production in the EU that’s not going to be stopped due to their head start. Plus, the global battery and EV markets will eventually be big enough to require local supply.

A er 100+ years of auto production, you still see companies throughout the supply chain producing things in all the main regional markets around the world. e transition to EVs is unlikely to change that dynamic once the market matures. But in the near term, it feels like the gold rush!

Holcim to deploy 1,000 Volvo electric trucks

Construction material provider Holcim will deploy up to 1,000 electric trucks from Volvo by 2030. Deliveries will start in the fourth quarter of 2023. is deal, reportedly the largest commercial order to date for Volvo electric trucks, is part of a wider partnership between Holcim and Volvo Group to deploy electric trucks across Holcim’s operations in Europe between now and 2030.

Both companies are founding members of the First Movers Coalition (FMC), a group of companies that aim to use their purchasing power to create early markets for innovative clean technologies.

“ e net-zero transition requires deep collaboration across value chains,” said Holcim Chairman and CEO Jan Jenisch. “We are excited to be partnering with Volvo to decarbonize our European operations’ logistics with electric eets, advancing our goal to reach 30% of zero-emission heavy-duty truck purchases or contracts by 2030.”

Mercedes-Benz develops dedicated EV architecture for vans

Mercedes-Benz has developed a new purpose-built modular and scalable architecture dubbed Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA), upon which all its newly developed vans will be based starting from 2026.

e company is planning to reduce its portfolio of van variants by more than 50% compared to its current ICE o erings, while covering the same use cases for customers.

e platform consists of three separate modules: front, center and rear. e front module consists of the electric powertrain and the front axle, and is the same in all VAN.EA variants, as part of an optimized common parts strategy. e center module scales the vehicle length. is is also where the standardized battery case is placed. High-voltage batteries with di erent capacities can be installed within the case. e rear module will be available in two versions: with an electric motor for the all-wheel-drive variants of VAN.EA and without one for the front-wheel drive variants.

”VAN.EA enables us to consolidate our mid-size and large vans down to only one architecture and signi cantly reduce the complexity of our product portfolio,” said Mathias Geisen, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans.

Caterpillar to supply NMG with zero-emission machines and infrastructure

Canadian materials company Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) and Caterpillar have signed agreements to supply NMG’s Matawinie Mine with an integrated solution that includes a zero-emission vehicle eet, supporting infrastructure and services.

e agreements encompass machines such as hydraulic excavators, mining trucks, wheel loaders, dozers and motor graders, as well as charging and energy storage infrastructure and equipment maintenance services.

As part of the agreements, the two companies have mapped the development and testing of equipment and infrastructure at NMG’s Matawinie Mine in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Québec. Equipment will be progressively replaced with Cat zero-emission machines as they become available.

e two companies have also signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to advance commercial discussions targeting NMG’s active anode material. A full circular value chain could be established, in which NMG would supply carbon-neutral graphite materials to Caterpillar for the development of its battery supply chain that would serve to electrify heavy vehicles, including NMG’s Matawinie eet.

“Not only will we bene t from Caterpillar’s expertise, products and latest technological developments, but our team will also be sharing insights, testing equipment for further optimization and providing battery materials to support electri cation beyond our mine,” said Eric Desaulniers, founder and CEO of NMG.

GM’s new Envolve business unit to offer tailored solutions for fleet customers

Fleet customers represent a lucrative line of business for General Motors. is year, the company reported that GM Fleet achieved its best rst quarter of commercial eet sales since 2006.

In order to better address the rapidly-changing eet market, GM has now brought all of its eet products and services under a new brand called GM Envolve. e new business unit will be headed by VP of Commercial Growth Strategies and Operations Steve Hill.

GM Envolve is “a one-stop customer experience, designed with input from customers and dealers, to make it easier to tap into all the products and services GM has to o er.” GM Envolve will o er “a full program of tailored solutions, providing high-tech management for both ICE and EV commercial eet operations,” and “give business customers more ways to reduce their environmental impact, streamline eet operations and increase driver safety.”

Each large eet customer will be assigned a dedicated account executive to o er coordination and recommendations, “backed by a team of experts to help identify and curate a package of GM’s technologies and innovative solutions for each customer’s business.” A digital platform for customer use is in the pipeline.

GM Envolve is designed to give eets “e cient, uncluttered access” to various GM business units, including BrightDrop, GM Genuine Parts, OnStar Business Solutions (tracking and data analysis), and energy management for EV eets. Consultants will be available to help with upgrading from ICEs to EVs, including such services as telematics, route planning and EV charging.

Among the rst GM Envolve customers are Domino’s, which ordered 800 Chevy Bolt EVs last year, and AutoZone, which plans to order 60 Chevy Bolt EUVs this summer.

“GM Envolve will leverage the complete power of General Motors to o er the best solutions to customers and further reinforce why we’ve increased our eet sales for ve consecutive quarters,” said GM Executive VP Steve Carlisle. “We will bring our customers in to create tailored solutions to meet their unique business challenges.”

Hyundai announces investment plans for EV production

e Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest $18 billion in its domestic EV industry by 2030. e funding will be used to increase production and exports and to foster EV-related industries. e Group announced plans to expand its annual EV production in Korea to 1.51 million units and global volume to 3.64 million units by 2030.

To increase domestic EV production, Kia is building a plant to manufacture electric purpose-built vehicles (PBVs), while also expanding existing EV lines to increase production.

Also, the Group will develop a platform for next-generation EVs, expand product lineups, develop core parts and advanced technologies, and establish research facilities. e Group plans to sequentially develop dedicated platforms for each vehicle class under the Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA) system, including the eM platform designed for passenger EVs, which will be introduced in 2025.

In 2030, Hyundai Motor Group expects to have a total lineup of 31 EV models, including models from Hyundai Motor, Kia and Genesis. is year, Kia plans to launch EV9, its three-row electric agship SUV. Hyundai Motor plans to launch the IONIQ 7 in 2024.

Yutong to deliver 12,000 electric buses to Lagos, Nigeria

e Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), which serves Africa’s largest city, plans to deploy 12,000 electric buses over the next seven years. e buses will be supplied by Chinese OEM Yutong, and will be assembled locally. Oando Clean Energy Limited (OCEL), a subsidiary of the Nigerian multinational oil company Oando, will provide charging infrastructure.

Yutong’s electric buses are equipped with air conditioning and WiFi. Two pilot vehicles have already been delivered, and OCEL has taken delivery of some charging stations and spare parts. Lagos State is expected to save some $2.6 billion in fuel and maintenance costs.

Collins Bus introduces Ford

E-Transit Type A school bus

American bus maker Collins Bus, a subsidiary of REV Group, has introduced its Ford E-Transit Type e bus is built on Ford’s T-350 single-rear-wheel E-Transit cutaway. It is available in two options to accommodate either twelve seated passengers or eight seated and two wheelchair passengers. e new model, which comes with a 68 kWh battery and an 8-year/100,000-mile warranty, has a narrow-body design, view-out window, one-piece tubular roof bow design, and body and paint warranties.

A school bus. e new e-bus is now available for orders from Collins Bus dealers.

“Ford and Collins Bus have a long history working together to provide mobility solutions for school systems,” said Ford Pro General Manager Raj Sarkar.

GreenPower to manufacture electric school buses in West Virginia

GreenPower Motor Company has received an order for 41 purpose-built Type D BEAST and Type A Nano BEAST electric school buses totaling $15 million from the state of West Virginia. As part of the deal, GreenPower will begin manufacturing electric school buses in the state.

“Since we rst announced our intent to manufacture in West Virginia, we’ve made tremendous progress on our mission to be the leading manufacturer of purpose-built, all-electric school buses,” said Brendan Riley, President of GreenPower. “We look forward to continue providing a positive impact on West Virginia’s economy with clean energy jobs.” e BEAST and Nano BEAST have been in pilot operation in several West Virginia counties for some weeks. “Over the course of the 2022-23 school year our BEAST and Nano BEAST have proven their capabilities in cold weather, snowy conditions and mountainous terrain in both rural and urban counties across the state. In short, the GreenPower school buses have performed exactly as we expected them to,” said GreenPower CEO and Chairman Fraser Atkinson.

GreenPower took possession of a manufacturing facility in South Charleston in 2022, and has been performing nal assembly and inspection on EV Star Cab & Chassis there as part of its supply agreement with Workhouse Group. Over the next few weeks, GreenPower will begin producing its Nano BEAST Type A electric school bus there, followed by the Type D BEAST.

GreenPower predicts that operation and maintenance costs for its electric school bus will be 70% to 80% less than those of a legacy diesel bus.

GreenPower will increase the number of employees at its West Virginia facility, and expects to reach a head count of 200 by the end of 2024. e company will conduct employee training programs in partnership with BridgeValley Community & Technical College.

“ e fact that our workers will be manufacturing the school buses being purchased by the state that their kids and grandkids will be riding to and from school on brings me great pride,” said Mr. Riley.

Dennis Eagle to supply 40 eCollect electric refuse trucks to Westminster City Council

UK-based refuse truck manufacturer Dennis Eagle has announced that Westminster City Council in Greater London, a er extensive trials in 2022, has ordered 40 of the company’s eCollect 27-tonne 6×2 rear-steer vehicles.

e vehicles will be operated by global waste-management company Veolia in partnership with Westminster City Council, which has set a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2040.

Dennis Eagle launched the eCollect in 2020, and says there are now more than 100 in operation in the UK and Ireland.

Frito-Lay to deploy over 700 delivery EVs in 2023

Frito-Lay will deploy over 700 electric delivery vehicles in the US by the end of 2023.

e company has already introduced a new electric eet to serve the Dallas-Fort Worth area and recently made its rst third-party shipment as the rst company to contract transport on logistics rm Schneider’s electric truck eet.

“ e introduction of EVs throughout our owned eet and that of our partners is in direct support of our commitment to building a circular and inclusive value chain,” said Laura Maxwell, Senior VP of Supply Chain at PepsiCo Foods North America.

Blue Bird delivers 60 electric school buses to Broward County Public Schools in Florida

Blue Bird is delivering 60 Vision electric school buses to Broward County Public Schools (BCPS). is represents Blue Bird’s largest e-bus eet sale to date.

Blue Bird’s Vision electric school bus can carry 72 students, and has a range of up to 120 miles.

BCPS is the sixth largest public school system in the US, serving more than 254,000 students and 110,000 adult learners. e agency maintains a bus eet of more than 1,200 vehicles, including 515 Blue Bird buses.

BCPS received a nearly $15-million grant from Florida’s Diesel Emissions Mitigation Program, which is funded by the state’s Volkswagen Settlement and the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. Florida Power & Light is providing the vehicle charging infrastructure.

Blue Bird electric buses come standard with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capability, which will enable BCPS to coordinate with local utilities to manage vehicle charging and return stored energy back to the grid as needed. V2G programs can lower the overall cost of electric buses for school districts.

“ is project has been in development for several years, and we’re thankful to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Power & Light for providing the essential funding and infrastructure to make it possible,” said BCPS Superintendent Dr. Earlean Smiley.

Monarch electric tractors roll off Foxconn assembly lines in Lordstown

e humble Ohio community of Lordstown has played a dynamic role in EV history. e rst act of the drama was a typical Rust Belt tragedy— shuttered auto plant, lost jobs. e second was a heart-warming resurrection story—plucky startup builds innovative electric pickup. Next came a tawdry tale of a missed opportunity to electrify postal delivery vans, and a told-you-so parable in which credulous investors lost their chips in a SPAC deal. What next?

e latest news from Lordstown is good, as far as it goes: Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn has begun production of MK-V electric tractors for Monarch.

In 2022, struggling EV startup Lordstown Motors sold its manufacturing facility to Foxconn. As part of the deal, the Taiwanese experts are to help bring the automaker’s Endurance pickup into production. Foxconn has also made a deal with Fisker (another company with a highly colorful history) to assemble its planned EV model, the PEAR.

We’ve heard nothing recently about the Endurance or the PEAR, but the electric tractors are real. Monarch says an initial ve units have been assembled and are ready for customer deliveries. According to the companies, MK-V production is on schedule. Foxconn says it is “very pleased with the product quality,” and will now ne-tune its assembly lines and material sourcing as it prepares for full-scale production.

e MK-V can be operated with or without a driver, and is equipped with advanced safety technologies, including collision prevention and human detection, which enables it to stop moving or shut down if it detects a person nearby.

“As a leader in manufacturing some of the world’s most in uential electric and autonomous technologies, Foxconn is the ideal partner for us as we look to rapidly expand production of the MK-V,” said Monarch CEO and co-founder Praveen Penmesta. “Today’s farmers need solutions like the MK-V now that will increase farm pro tability and sustainability.”

Jaguar Land Rover to invest $18.9 billion in EV production over next five years

JLR announced that its Halewood plant in the UK will become an all-electric production facility. e company will invest £15 billion ($18.9 billion) over the next ve years. Additionally, the company shared that its new platform for medium-size SUVs, Electri ed Modular Architecture, will now be fully electric.

Adrian Mardell, JLR’s CEO, said: “Today I am proud to announce we are accelerating our electri cation path. is investment enables us to be net-zero carbon emissions by 2039.”

JLR also announced that the rst of its three new Jaguar models will be a 4-door GT. e company said it will have a range up to 430 miles (700 km), and a starting price of £100,000. Additionally, it will feature its own architecture, which Jaguar has dubbed JEA. e model is expected to go on sale in selected markets in 2024.

GenH2 and ZeroAvia to develop liquid hydrogen technologies for airports

Hydrogen infrastructure system specialist GenH2 has executed an MOU with ZeroAvia to develop liquid hydrogen aviation infrastructure solutions for use at airports.

ZeroAvia is developing a hydrogen-electric aviation powertrain. e company aims to retro t its fuel cell-powered engines to existing xed-wing and rotorcra airframes in order to reduce time to market, and is also partnering with clean-sheet designers. ZeroAvia hopes to earn certi cation of its ZA600, a 600 kW engine for 9-19 seat aircra , as early as 2025, and to certify its ZA2000 engine for up to 80 seat regional turboprops by 2027.

GenH2 o ers hydrogen liquefaction, storage and dispensing systems ranging from 20 kg/day up to 5,000 kg/ day that are capable of working airside as ground support refueling units.

“Today, aviation is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, and without radical change, its share of global climate impact is expected to be more than a quarter of all human activity by 2050,” said Arnab Chatterjee, ZeroAvia’s VP of Infrastructure. “GenH2’s liquefaction capability will further support our mission of demonstrating that hydrogen-electric propulsion is the only way to scale truly clean aviation for commercial use.”