Congo extends cobalt export ban by three months
KINSHASA, June 21 (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo has extended by three months a ban on exports of cobalt intended to curb oversupply of the electric vehicle battery material, a regulatory agency said on Saturday.
The world's top cobalt supplier imposed a four-month suspension on exports in February after prices had hit a nine-year low at just $10 a pound. The ban was due to expire on Sunday.
"The decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension due to the continued high level of stock on the market," the Authority for the Regulation and Control of Strategic Mineral Substances' Markets (ARECOMS) said in a statement.
ARECOMS said it expected to announce a subsequent decision to either modify, extend or terminate the suspension before the new three-month window closes in September.
Reuters reported on Friday that Congolese authorities were considering extending the ban as they explored how to distribute quotas for shipments of cobalt among mining companies.
A proposal to implement quotas has backing from miners including Glencore (GLEN.L), opens new tab, the world's second-largest cobalt-producing company. But Glencore's position differs from that of the number one producer, China's CMOC Group (603993.SS), opens new tab, which has lobbied for the ban to be lifted.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Labour scraps £950m EV rapid charging fund first announced by Conservatives
Labour ministers have scrapped a promise by the previous government for a £950m fund for installing electric car chargers near motorways, instead setting aside a smaller sum mainly for on-street charging points. The rapid charging fund (RCF) was first announced in 2020 by Rishi Sunak, then Conservative chancellor, with the aim of supporting upgrades to the grid so that more electric vehicles could be rapidly charged at the same time. However, it was mired in delays amid concerns it could unfairly benefit some motorway service companies. The Department for Transport said the RCF had never formally been included in budget plans, so the promise was unfunded. The Guardian revealed in March that ministers were considering directing proposed funding away from motorway services, amid criticisms of the fund's design from industry. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has committed £400m over the next five years 'to support the rollout of charging infrastructure' in this month's spending review, after announcing £200m for charging at the autumn budget. It is understood much of the spending will support on-street charge points in poorer areas, where private-sector investment has lagged behind. However, some people in the charging industry said the government should have honoured the £950m pledge in full, even if the money was redirected towards other incentives for people to switch to EVs. John Lewis, the chief executive at which operates on-street chargers, welcomed the £400m pledge. However, he said: 'The key question now is: couldn't the full amount have been directed towards the EV effort – whether through the continued rollout of on-street charging or other consumer incentives – to give people greater confidence to make the switch to electric?' The number of electric car chargers in the UK is rising rapidly, passing 80,000 in May, according to data company Zap Map. That represented a 29% increase compared with a year earlier, while the number of rapid chargers with power above 50kW rose by a third. Not all chargers are created equal More and more people are buying electric cars, and are having to grapple with charging for the first time. However, not all chargers are created equal, and the profusion of units can cause confusion. Charging speeds are measured by power output in kilowatts (kW), while battery capacity is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). For example, a Nissan Leaf has 39kWh of battery capacity, while a Tesla Model Y has 60kWh. Recharge times vary depending on battery size: divide the battery size by the power to get a very rough idea of how many hours it will take to charge. (E.g., a 60kWh battery at a 22kW charger would take about three hours.) The quicker the charge, the more it tends to cost. Slow: up to 8kW Common at homes, on-street chargers and places cars hang around like car parks or hotels. Suitable for charging overnight. Plugging in with a UK three-pin plug to the mains at home will deliver about 2.3kW – although it is not recommended. Fast: 8kW to 49kW Found at urban sites like supermarkets, shopping centres or car parks. Capable of charging a smaller battery in a few hours. Rapid: 50kW to 150kW Typically found close to big roads for journey charging, but also increasingly found in locations such as supermarkets or gyms with short dwell times. 50kW could give 80% charge in less than an hour. Ultra-rapid: 150kW and above Most chargers being installed at motorway services or dedicated charging hubs are now at least 150kW. Many newer cars can now handle 150kW, and several can charge at speeds of over 300kW, adding hundreds of miles of range in around 10 minutes. Increasing the number of public chargers is seen as crucial to persuading people to switch to electric cars. However, the focus has shifted from rapid chargers, which can allay 'range anxiety' on longer journeys, to the slower on-street chargers needed for car owners who do not have private parking spaces. Ian Johnston, the chief executive of Osprey Charging, said: 'New funding should be more effectively deployed on projects in prime locations where the grid connection costs render the site unviable – whether A roads, underserved regions or the small number of motorway locations with unviable grid – rather than gifted to all motorway sites regardless of the costs, as was envisaged under the RCF.' Johnston also called for changes to road signage permissions to allow charge points to be easily advertised to drivers. Quentin Willson, the founder of FairCharge, a group campaigning for cheaper charging, said the full £950m should have been spent on accelerating the switch to electric cars. 'Withholding unused RCF funds and not diverting them towards other EV charging initiatives isn't a great look for government,' he said. 'It opens them to the obvious questions about their commitment to the EV transition.' Willson, a former presenter of the Top Gear TV programme, said the government should also cut VAT on public charging to match the lower rates available on home electricity. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'The rapid charging fund was designed to support the rollout of charging infrastructure on motorways and major A roads – but the previous government did not set out detailed plans to deliver this. 'Since the fund was announced in 2020, the market has changed significantly, with the number of open-access rapid and ultra-rapid charge points within one mile of the strategic road network almost quadrupling in the last three years alone.'
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
The West must rediscover its ruthless streak in business
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With a mixture of regional players and companies moving into the market from other industries – such as the phone manufacturer Xiaomi – China has more domestic carmakers than anywhere else in the world. The result? EVs are very cheap in China, with popular models such as BYD's Seagull selling for just 58,000 yuan (£6,000), an incredibly low price for a well-made new car. The overall market has boomed, with more than six million EVs sold last year. And it is characterised by rapid innovation, with companies constantly adding new features, and making huge breakthroughs in battery technology, such as BYD's five-minute charger. Lots of people are still kidding themselves that Chinese EVs are taking a larger and larger share of the Western market because they are being 'dumped' by the state. Actually it is because they make good cars at very competitive prices, and, not very surprisingly, customers like that. True, the Chinese government may be worried that the market is getting out of control. Last week, it issued a warning to 16 of the biggest companies, including BYD, Nio and SAIC (which owns the British brand MG) not to let price competition become so ferocious that they all end up destroying each other. No one really thinks that 100-plus car companies will survive, or that it would be healthy for them to do so. Plenty of them will go bust, and many more will be steered into mergers by government officials before they drown in red ink. Three or four giant conglomerates will emerge, much as they did in the emerging auto industries in the United States and Europe a hundred years ago. The important point, however, is this. China is allowing a Darwinian struggle for survival to decide who will be the winners and losers. We see that most dramatically in the emerging auto industry, which has emerged from nowhere to take on the giants of Japan, the US and Europe in little more than a decade. And yet we see much the same process in phone manufacturing where dozens of brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have emerged in a very short space of time; in airlines, where there are now dozens of domestic carriers, and the likes of China Eastern are emerging as major international players; or in televisions, where brands such as Hisense and Skyworth dominate the industry. The list goes on. At the macro level, China may be dominated by top-down state planning, with soft loans dished out to favoured entrepreneurs, and targets set for chosen industries. But at the micro level, it is also characterised by intense competition, with companies slugging it out ferociously for every sale. Sure, it will be a messy and ugly process. But we can be sure of one thing. The handful of auto companies that survive will be making great cars at rock bottom prices, and will be virtually impossible to compete with. 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In almost every respect, we would not want to be like China. We would not want to copy its dominant one-party state; nor its lack of democracy; nor is mass surveillance of the population; nor its appalling record on human rights. And yet it does get one big thing right. As its booming, yet also brutally competitive EV industry has shown, it also believes in competition, and in forcing companies to compete for every sale. It is the only way to make sure that better products are made at a lower price, and in the end that is what succeeds. The West knew that 100 years ago, but has largely forgotten it since then. In reality, if the UK, the rest of Europe and the US are to have any chance of standing up to the growing economic might of China we need to rediscover the streak of ruthlessness that drives business. If we don't, EVs will just be the start – and we will keep on losing the lead in more major industries.
Times
16 hours ago
- Times
Boris Johnson's failed £1bn EV charger fund killed off by Labour
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