Lithium Mining and Electric Vehicles: Powering Innovation and a Greener Future

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This post originally appeared in the Navigate the Future blog.

The future of transportation is increasingly greener, with jurisdictions around the world aiming to significantly grow the number of electric vehicles traversing the streets. In the state of California, an ambitious target has been set to reach 5.5 million of them by the year 2030 through rebate programs. By 2025, they plan to have 250,000 vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations to fuel this growth. In India, plans are even more ambitious, with the government aiming to become 100% electric vehicle by 2030.

Lithium miners can learn about innovation from the manufacturers they supply

Lithium-iom batteries are an important component in powering electric vehicles. A report in the Financial Post states that the market for such batteries could grow from USD$29.7 billion to $77 billion in 2024. While these batteries are also used in mobile phones and laptops, car batteries use more than 4,800 times the lithium.

With many of the world’s electric car manufacturers utilizing Dassault Systèmes solutions to design, plan and produce their automobiles, we thought it would be interesting to look at how the same technologies they use can be applied in mining, which provides the raw materials they require.

As automakers saw rapid transformation in their market, they searched for new ways to compete. Honda looked for a way to manufacture their products faster. Using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to create a digital replica of its factories – complete with real-time data from machines in operation fed back into the digital replica – Honda is now able to bring its vehicles to market faster than ever before.

These digital replicas, or 3DEXPERIENCE twins, can be utilized in the mining industry as well, where they can be used to understand performance by enabling decision-makers to “see” and “experience” their operations in the virtual world. With this capability, new kinds of “what if” questions can be asked and then simulated to see what the outcome will be. This learning can be applied in the real world, where data can be fed back into the virtual model, enabling a continuous innovation loop.

Collaborative design is a critical element at Tesla, where it is paving the way for market acceptance of electric vehicles while revolutionizing the automotive industry with its vehicle and its approach. The innovation leader uses the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to eliminate data boundaries, compress lead times and reduce costs in development. With it, they achieve sustainable innovation through the powerful collaborative platform that facilitates partner and customer input and sharing; a common 3D “language” eliminates data translation and the errors and waste that come with it; and virtual 3D models that make information actionable, enabling “right-first-time” quality, safety and manufacturability,

Tesla’s solution has enabled all departments to be involved early and get their feedback on the initial releases is a lot better than getting that feedback at the end, when it becomes much more expensive to incorporate those changes.”

One of the greatest barriers to productivity in the mining industry is the silos that exist across the value chain, and between corporate and remote sites. If the barriers can be broken down between geology, engineering, scheduling, maintenance and other functions, information will flow quickly where and when it is needed. Through this, better decisions and models can be made, which will keep operations on track.

Boutique manufacturer Kreisel Electric uses the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for a single source of trusted information that promotes real-time collaboration, state-of-the-art design and simulation applications to engineer, test and manufacture all required components and systems – as well as planning tools to ensure projects stay on budget and on schedule.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables better use of data by enabling people and processes to work together much more seamlessly. With it, companies can enable short interval control, where manufacturing companies use the latest information available from the production floor to re-optimize schedules and transmit updated instructions to operators within shifts to keep everything on track.

Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables innovation so our customers can find new ways of improving all aspects business. With it, companies imagine new ways of designing, engineering, and producing what they bring to market.

The post Lithium Mining and Electric Vehicles: Powering Innovation and a Greener Future appeared first on 3D PERSPECTIVES.

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Katie Corey

Katie is the Editor of the SIMULIA blog and also manages SIMULIA's social media and is an online communities and SEO expert. As a writer and technical communicator, she is interested in and passionate about creating an impactful user experience. Katie has a BA in English and Writing from the University of Rhode Island and a MS in Technical Communication from Northeastern University. She is also a proud SIMULIA advocate, passionate about democratizing simulation for all audiences. Katie is a native Rhode Islander and loves telling others about all it has to offer. As a self-proclaimed nerd, she enjoys a variety of hobbies including history, astronomy, science/technology, science fiction, geocaching, true crime, fashion and anything associated with nature and the outdoors. She is also mom to a 2-year old budding engineer and two crazy rescue pups.