Soroush Nazarpour, founder and CEO at NanoXplore, the world’s leading graphene maker, says his goal is to see his business grow, expand graphene to even more applications and bring about a change to the environment.Supplied
Canada’s journey towards a sustainable, low-carbon future shifted into high gear recently, thanks to a national movement towards zero-emission electric vehicles, or EVs for short.
A number of key developments are driving the way forward, including plans by the Big Three automakers to manufacture EVs in Ontario and a $280-million federal government program to build charging stations across the country. But the biggest accelerator towards widespread adoption of the electric vehicle could come from advances in one of its smallest but most consequential parts: the battery cell.
“The fuel cell or battery is the key element to helping Canadians become more inclined to look at the acquisition of an electric vehicle,” says Peter Hatges, national sector leader, automotive at KPMG Canada and co-author of a KMPG report on how next-generation vehicles will change Canada’s automotive future.
Mr. Hatges cites three primary barriers to EV ownership: consumers’ anxiety over the relatively low number of charging stations in the country – Canada has about 6,000 public EV charging stations, compared to close to 12,000 retail gas stations – the time it takes to charge, and the high cost of purchasing an EV.
A made-in-Canada innovation is in the works to eliminate these barriers. VoltaXplore, a joint venture between Montreal-based graphene producer NanoXplore Inc. and Toronto-based automotive parts maker Martinrea International Inc., is set to open a demonstration facility in Montreal next year for the development and production of EV batteries enhanced with graphene, the world’s thinnest and strongest material.
“Graphene improves the capacity of the battery, improves the charging speed to make it charge faster – five times faster in the case of a lithium-ion battery – and makes the car drive longer,” explains Soroush Nazarpour, founder and CEO at NanoXplore, the world’s leading graphene maker, with about 40 per cent of the world’s total production capacity.
“Graphene also protects the battery by transferring heat out,” adds Mr. Nazarpour, whose company also has a manufacturing operation focused on graphene-enhanced products, with over 400 employees and revenues of over $70-million.
With the opening of their 10,000-square-foot demonstration facility, NanoXplore and Martinrea plan to produce 100,000 battery cells per year for original equipment manufacturers to test drive in automotive applications.
Robert Wildeboer“ If you can take 50 pounds of weight out of a vehicle that needs to be propelled, that’s huge in terms of improvement in efficiency. It’s also huge environmentally because you're using up less resources.
Executive Chairman at Martinrea
If successful, the demonstration facility will support the business case for the construction of a one-million-square-foot, 10-gigawatt-hour graphene battery factory that could employ more than 2,000 people to manufacture one billion battery cells per year and supply the country’s EV makers, says Mr. Nazarpour.
“Almost everything is in place for the production of electric vehicles in Canada,” he adds. “It’s just the battery manufacturing that’s missing to create a complete supply chain for EV production in the country, and that’s the gap we’re filling.”
Robert Wildeboer, executive chairman at Martinrea, says his company’s initial interest in NanoXplore and graphene was sparked by the material’s incredible strength – reported to be 200 times more than the strength of steel – and lightness. In automotive manufacturing, reducing a vehicle’s weight, also referred to as lightweighting, is one of the key approaches to improving fuel efficiency and performance.
“If you can take 50 pounds of weight out of a vehicle that needs to be propelled, that’s huge in terms of improvement in efficiency,” says Mr. Wildeboer. “It’s also huge environmentally because you’re using up less resources.”
Today, Martinrea – one of the automotive industry’s leaders in lightweight structures – uses graphene to build next-generation brake lines with significantly greater corrosion resistance and 25 per cent less weight than their non-graphene predecessors.
“Graphene is a wonderful material – light, flexible, strong, with excellent conductive and cooling capabilities,” says Mr. Wildeboer. “We think graphene-enhanced batteries are better batteries, and while graphene produced in small quantities is very expensive, one of the strengths of NanoXplore is its ability to produce a significant amount of graphene for a competitive price.”
Manufacturing these graphene-enhanced batteries in Canada, where they’ll be within easy reach of the country’s automakers, could reduce the production cost and, ultimately, the price of EVs. Locally sourcing the material needed to make the batteries could lead to further cost savings, says Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, the Toronto-based national association representing the country’s original equipment suppliers to the global automotive industry.
“Not only do we have the technology to make the batteries, we also have all the natural resources in Canada needed to make batteries,” he says. “Ontario, Quebec and Alberta would all be big players in supplying the natural resources that turn into battery chemistry.”
For Mr. Nazarpour, the success of NanoXplore and Martinrea’s demonstration facility and the subsequent building of Canada’s first EV battery gigafactory would mean victory on many fronts – including the country’s automotive, technology and resources sectors – and for many people, in particular consumers and workers.
It would also translate into a win for the environment. Powered by batteries that charge better, faster and hold that charge longer, the next generation of EVs are likely to gain wider acceptance in Canada and beyond – a critical turning point in the road to lower greenhouse gas emissions and greater sustainability.
“My goal is to see our business grow, to expand graphene to even more applications and to bring about change in people’s lives and to the environment,” says Mr. Nazarpour. “And on a personal level, as an immigrant I’d like to give back to the country that accepted me, and this is the best way of doing that.”
Advertising feature produced by Randall Anthony Communications with Canada’s Clean50. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.