Eurasian Resources Group’s Boss Mining copper and cobalt project has been halted by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government, which cites environmental concerns after flooding in March sent mine waste into a river and nearby town…The suspension is the latest sign of strained relations between copper miners and the Congolese government at a time when output is booming…The project is set to produce an average of 21,600 tons of copper and 3,600 tons of cobalt hydroxide per year. N’Samba Kalambayi suspended the project for at least three months and ordered an investigation into possible reparations for damages, according to remarks to a Senate commission Thursday sent by the ministry. The Boss project was restarted by ERG in November, after spending more than three years on care and maintenance.

Tesla Inc's rapid adjustment of its battery supply chain means all of its Model 3 vehicles qualify for federal U.S. credits that, along with other tax breaks, could lower its price to less than a Toyota Camry…The Biden administration on Tuesday confirmed that all Tesla Model 3 vehicles now qualify for $7,500 electric vehicle consumer tax credits after two of the three versions were eligible for half the credits…A Model 3 starts at $40,240 and the price may fall to $25,240 when the $7,500 federal tax credit and another $7,500 from the California tax rebate kick in, depending on income and other requirements. Toyota's Camry is listed at $26,320 and higher…Analysts said Tesla may have tweaked its battery supply chain to meet both battery mineral and battery component requirements for federal subsidy…Tesla may have dropped CATL in favor of Panasonic or LG Energy Solution for U.S.-made Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive, the cheapest version, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) analyst Caspar Rawles said…The subsidy value would far outpace the saving of using cheaper iron-based cells used by CATL, he said…Tesla used CATL's LFP battery cells for its Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive and nickel-based cells from LG Energy Solution for its Model 3 Long Range, analysts said.

Panasonic Holdings plans to expand production of electric vehicle batteries at a factory in Nevada jointly operated with Tesla by 10% within three years, a spokesperson for the Japanese company said on Tuesday…The comments followed a Nikkei Asia report on Monday that said unit Panasonic Energy would install a 15th production line at Gigafactory Nevada…Panasonic said last month it planned to build at least two new factories for the production of Tesla 4680 battery cells in North America by 2030. With that move, it seeks to boost its auto battery capacity to 200 gigawatt hours per year by March 2031, about four times its level at the end of this March.

Electric-vehicle sales are poised to more than double by 2026 but eliminating emissions from road transportation by the middle of this century will require even greater efforts, according to BloombergNEF…The research firm sees shipments of plug-in passenger vehicles surging to around 27 million from 10.5 million last year as sales jump in China and the US…While shipments of combustion-engine passenger cars have peaked six years ago, it’ll take time to replace the roughly 1.3 billion roaming roads today. Some 30% of the global fleet will still burn gasoline and diesel by 2050. Heavier commercial vehicles are expected to be trailing cars with just 32% of the fleet decarbonizing on that timeline…Investments in zero-emission trucks “should be a priority focus for policymakers,”…After a plodding start, EVs are now spreading rapidly as automakers from General Motors Co. to Volkswagen AG are forced to keep pace with tightening emissions regulation, retooling factories to churn out a wide variety of battery models with attractive driving ranges. Countries are now competing to attract investments to build new manufacturing clusters — mainly battery cell plants but also mining, processing and recycling operations…The shift to battery power, already displacing 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, will cause road fuel demand to peak in four years. 

Ten months later, Macron and Yang stood side-by-side in Dunkirk to announce that ProLogium had picked the northern French port ahead of sites in Germany and the Netherlands for its first EV battery gigafactory outside Taiwan…It is one of four such gigafactories Macron hopes will transform the poor, former coal mining area near Belgium into a hub for the EV battery industry, creating jobs and helping to put France at the forefront of Europe's energy transition…Interviews with 10 government officials and executives involved in the investment decisions show that France rolled out the red carpet, offering battery makers generous subsidies thanks to a relaxation of EU state aid rules for green energy projects - along with some personal lobbying by Macron…The people said changes since Macron became president in 2017, such as cuts in corporate tax, measures to make hiring and firing easier, and reductions in a production tax based on the size of factories, also played a role in the decisions…Besides ProLogium, China's Envision AESC, local startup Verkor and the ACC consortium including Mercedes and Stellantis are setting up gigafactories in the same area - and officials said France is courting Chinese EV giant BYD and Tesla to build car plants too…Automakers are racing to stay ahead of rivals by producing cleaner vehicles, securing greater control over their supply chains and bringing plants making EV batteries - an industry dominated by Chinese, South Korean and Japanese firms - closer to their manufacturing sites…To bag the ProLogium solid-state battery plant, which is expected to involve a total investment of 5.2 billion euros and create 3,000 jobs over time, France offered incentives worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), one source with knowledge of the deal told Reuters…For the 2.3 billion euro plant opened by ACC (Automotive Cells Company) - the battery manufacturer involving Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis, German rival Mercedes and French energy company TotalEnergies - France provided about 840 million euros in subsidies, including funds for research and development, according to the finance ministry…To roll out the public support France is using to entice battery makers, Macron lobbied Brussels to let EU member states match the kind of subsidies Washington is throwing at the EV industry under the IRA …France is also making a cash incentive of up to 5,000 euros for buyers of new electric cars conditional on the manufacturers meeting tough low-carbon standards, effectively shutting out many non-European carmakers using dirtier energy.

Electric vehicles and other technology to cut emissions is likely to drive a surge in French power demand by 2035, meaning France will need to maintain its existing nuclear capacity, grid operator RTE said on Wednesday…The European Union in March approved a law to end sales of new C02-emitting cars in 2035…As a result, electricity use is likely to rise by nearly 10 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year on average over the next decade to between 580 and 640 TWh in 2035, the RTE climate and energy report said…That compares with 452.8 TWh in 2022, which was a crisis year as Europe sought to curb its energy demand to cope with the impact of the Ukraine war and France's nuclear fleet was subject to an unusually high level of maintenance, meaning its energy output sank to a 34-year low.

Japan's Itochu Corp said on Wednesday it has jointly established a power storage company with Osaka Gas Co and Tokyo Century Corp, as the country's expansion in renewable energy drives demand for storage capacity…The joint venture would start construction of large-scale lithium ion storage batteries in Osaka prefecture in the first half of the current fiscal year, to be launched in the fiscal year of 2025, Itochu said in a statement…Batteries are central to Japan becoming carbon neutral by 2050, as they are critical for storage of renewable energy to smoothen output fluctuations…The project will have capacity of 23 megawatt hours and output of 11 megawatt…Japan is targeting over $24 billion in investments both from the public and private sectors to develop domestic battery production capacity of 150 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2030, including for electric vehicles, and global production by Japanese companies of 600 GWh.