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russelluresti | 9 years ago

The TL;DR is that the former head of supply chain of Tesla (who is Swedish) is trying to get funding to build a lithium-ion battery plant in Scandinavia. Largely because Europe doesn't have one and is reliant on Asian countries for their batteries (so he's seeking a kind of European energy independence).

He believes he can use minerals from mining operations in Finland as resources and local hydro/wind sources to power it.

The biggest hurdle is getting funding - it's expensive - but he does have initial phase backing from a few sources, including the state-owned utility service Vattenfall.

They are mainly looking to just provide for Europe and not challenge Tesla in the American market.

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hwillis|9 years ago

Given the strong commitment to renewable energy and the resulting increasingly unstable (noisy) grid, there will probably be a strong market in Europe and particularly Germany. There are strong graphite[1], spodumene[2], and cobalt[3] resources in Finland, Norway and Sweden- this seems like a really great idea. Batteries are energy intensive and labor-light to make so local renewable power will go pretty far in keeping costs competitive. China has to ship their lithium from central America and their cobalt from central Africa- volume and cheap labor/power are their only current advantages.

[1] http://investingnews.com/company-profiles/graphite-producer-...

[2] http://sciencenordic.com/finland-new-lithium-powerhouse

[3] https://www.adn.com/arctic/article/lapland-host-finlands-big...

tekkk|9 years ago

There has been already talk in the finnish news that Vaasa is lobbying itself for the Tesla's new Gigafactory in Europe so it is going to be interesting to see how this develops.

Here is an article in english about Vaasa's ambitions if anyone is curious about their rationale.

https://www.vaasa.fi/en/tiedote/vaasa-finland-will-apply-for...