The global auto industry suffered a 16 percent drop in sales in 2020, but the electric vehicle (EV) market bucked the wider trend with growth of more than 40 percent, according to report published by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) in late April.

While in 2021 recyclers are still encountering few EVs as end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), the radically different set of components and battery configurations that comprise EVs will affect scrap generated by manufacturers, metals prices and eventually auto shredder feedstock.

The IEA’s Global Electric Vehicle Outlook 2021 report concludes that despite the COVID-19 pandemic setting off economic downturns, a record 3 million new electric cars were registered in 2020, a 41 percent increase from the previous year. By comparison, the global automobile market contracted 16 percent in 2020.

The strong momentum of EVs has continued into this year, says the IEA, with sales in the first quarter of 2021 reaching nearly two and half times their level in the same period one year earlier.

Last year’s increase brought the number of electric cars on the world’s roads to more than 10 million, joined by another roughly 1 million electric vans, heavy trucks and buses. For the first time last year, Europe overtook China as the center of the global electric car market. Electric car registrations in Europe more than doubled to 1.4 million, while in China they increased 9 percent to 1.2 million.

“While they can't do the job alone, EVs have an indispensable role to play in reaching net-zero emissions worldwide,” says Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA. Birol adds, “Governments should now be doing the essential groundwork to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by using economic recovery packages to invest in battery manufacturing and the development of widespread and reliable charging infrastructure.”

EVs appear poised for significant growth in the 2020s, the new IEA report finds. Based on current trends and policies, it projects the number of electric cars, vans, heavy trucks and buses on the road worldwide to reach 145 million by 2030. The global fleet could rise as has high as 230 million if governments accelerate efforts to subsidize or support sales of EVs.

In 2020, consumer spending on electric cars increased by 50 percent globally, reaching $120 billion. The IEA calculates government support measures as providing $14 billion in support, “the fifth year in a row in which they have fallen as a share of total spending.” The IEA adds, “This suggests sales are increasingly being driven more by consumer choice.”

Automakers offered 370 electric car models in 2020, a 40 percent year-on-year increase. Eighteen of the 20 largest automakers have announced intentions to further increase the number of available models and boost production of electric light-duty vehicles. These automakers account for 90 percent of all global auto sales, according to the IEA.

The report indicates the shift of the road transport sector toward EVs extends beyond cars. The most electrified road transport mode today is two- and three-wheeled vehicles – such as motorcycles and mopeds – with more than 25 million units sold, the bulk of them in Asia. Urban bus fleets also are electrifying, says IEA. Heavy trucks are a segment where electric models and sales have only recently begun to grow, as battery performance has improved and driving ranges have lengthened.

The IEA describes its Global EV Outlook report as an annual publication that identifies and discusses recent developments in electric mobility around the world. The full IEA report on EVs can be downloaded from this web page. 

Buffalo, New York-based Wendt Corp. has announced the sale of a Wendt/MTB EZR Pre-Shredder to Indiana-based Rochester Iron and Metal. Although there are several EZR installations worldwide, the sale of the unit to Rochester represents the first United States install, says Wendt Corp. The unit is scheduled to be installed and operational in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Wendt Corp. describes Rochester Iron & Metal as a fourth-generation, family-owned business with predecessor companies that have been serving the scrap industry since the early 1900s. Jason Grube and stepfather, Mooch Lewis, partnered to form Rochester Iron and Metal in 2002.

After installing one of the first Wendt M6090 shredding plants in 2012, the company has experienced exponential growth, expanding from 17 employees to more than 100. Rochester’s growth became apparent in 2013, a year after the shredder was installed. “Initially our estimates for the shredder were 4,000 tons a month,” says Jason Grube, president of the firm. “By the end of 2012, we were at capacity with 10,000 to 11,000 tons per month.”

The company also operates a feeder yard in Kokomo, Indiana, and a newly purchased yard in Logansport, Indiana. Along with the shredder, the company contributes its growth to dedicated customer service, the cleanliness of its facilities and strong relationships it has built and maintained, according to Wendt.

Grube says, “One thing we didn’t account for with the purchase of the shredder was the visibility that we gained. The amount of prime scrap that we acquire that doesn’t go through the shredder has been impressive.”

Growth and operating heavy equipment also brings with it challenges. In late 2018, Rochester Iron and Metal experienced a massive unshreddable introduced into its mill. After an initial scare of being told the shredder would be inoperable for up to six months, the company made significant changes surrounding the business.

“We were very fortunate that we were back up and running within 4 days,” Grube says. “However, we never want to be in that situation again. We have spent a lot of money over the last few years buying spare parts in case that single event was ever to occur again. By purchasing the preshredder, we’ve invested in insurance that those events are going to be less likely now than ever before.”

With the ever-decreasing availability of business interruption insurance for auto shredders, the EZR Pre-Shredder offers Rochester an alternative form of insurance with a much wider range of benefits, says Wendt.

A preshredder uses low-speed, high torque technology to homogenize hammermill feedstock. This allows a shredder to achieve “full box shredding,” increasing tons per hour while decreasing the wear on castings, says the equipment and technology firm.

In addition, preshredders give operators the ability to catch and remove unshreddables prior to the shredder, ideally reducing the chances of catastrophic failure at the mill. By operating at a slow speed, preshredders can puncture explosive containers without creating an ignition source that is typical in a hammermill. This, in turn, helps to reduce the number of conflagrations or loud booms in the hammermill.

“Wendt’s long-standing exclusive partnership with MTB has brought new and innovative equipment and recovery concepts to fulfill our customer’s needs. The development of the EZR Pre-Shredder is no exception,” says Ethan Willard, Wendt shredder business development manager, of the France-based company that designed the EZR model.

“The preshredder allows our customers a simple and unintrusive way to expand their business by maximizing the utilization of existing assets,” adds Willard. “I believe preshredders will revolutionize existing shredder operations with [their] ability to increase production and decrease operating costs and downtime.”

Rochester’s EZR Pre-Shredder is capable of handling up to 70 tons per hour and features the same modular features that Wendt has introduced in its other equipment lines. “It just made business sense,” says Dan Zeiger, controller for Rochester Iron and Metal.

“With the increased throughput from the preshredder, we are basically going to become an 80-inch mill without the installation costs,” Zeiger continues. “I’d rather invest than sit back and just be scared all the time that what happened in 2018 will happen again. From a financial perspective, the payback estimations are in months, not years. It’s hard to say ‘no’ to an addition to our processing stream that will ultimately be very profitable.”

Wendt describes the EZR as the first preshredder on the market that allows for the adjustment of the output density and throughput of the machine after installation to tailor an operation to meet customers' specific demands. Available in sizes from 5 to 150 tons per hour, the EZR product line covers a wide range of applications, according to the company.

The purchase of the Wendt/MTB EZR Pre-Shredder represents the third capital equipment transaction Rochester Iron and Metal has conducted with Wendt. “From the beginning, Wendt has helped walk us through how we can enhance our current processing stream,” says Zeiger. “The strong relationship between our companies begins with the people. Jason [Grube] and Tom [Wendt] have a lot in common-their ages, their drive and they both have this like-minded engineer[ing] thought process.”

Peru-based Corporación Aceros Arequipa SA has signed a contract with Düsseldorf, Germany-based SMS Group entailing the delivery of a new vacuum tank degasser to Acercos Arequipa’s Pisco, Peru, electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill.

The degasser will be integrated into the already delivered SMS Group melt shop and enable the Peruvian steelmaker to widen its production in terms of quantity and quality, according to SMS.

The degassing process is designed to achieve the lowest possible level of hydrogen content in the steel, which can help a mill produce “top-quality high-carbon grades for grinding balls,” says SMS. Nitrogen removal and oxygen control also are important factors for the production of  special bar quality (SBQ) grades of steel, adds the equipment provider.

Aceros Arequipa manufactures long and flat steel products, including corrugated sheet, wire, steel sections, bars and pipes, plus tool steels and hardware for the construction, civil engineering and mining industries. In addition to supplying the Peruvian market, the company exports its products to Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and the United States.

The new plant will allow Aceros Arequipa to expand its presence in the national market and in South America, and to supply higher-quality products, says SMS.

“The full integration of the new vacuum degasser into the electric steelmaking route will set a new benchmark in South American steelmaking: for the very first time, both high productivity and high quality come together in a compact and optimized layout,” states SMS.

The equipment firm expects the commissioning of the degasser to take place in early 2022.

Luxembourg-based Ternium S.A., a steel producer with most of its capacity in Central and South America, has announced a 250 percent year-on-year leap in earnings for its 2021 first quarter and says it anticipates ongoing favorable market conditions.

Ternium has reported first-quarter 2021 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $1.1 billion on steel shipments of 3.1 million tons. The firm says its EBITDA margin was 33 percent and its EBITDA per ton was $341.10.

In remarks accompanying the release of its results, Ternium says in Mexico, which it calls its “main steel market,” manufacturing activity remained at good levels in the period driven mainly by finished goods exports, while construction activity kept recovering gradually.

Ternium’s Mexican shipments were 1.7 million tons in the first quarter of 2021, increasing 3 percent on a year-over-year basis and compared with the fourth quarter of 2020.

In the firm’s southern region, activity in Argentina’s industrial and construction sectors “remained at strong levels during the first quarter of 2021,” Ternium says. The firm shipped more than 620,000 tons of steel in the quarter. That was a decrease from the prior quarter but represented a 64 percent rebound year over year. “Volumes in Argentina were significantly affected in the first quarter of 2020 by the measures implemented to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic,” the firm states.

Ternium says finished steel shipments in its “other markets” region increased 15 percent on a sequential basis, thanks in part to the ramping up of its new facility in Palmar de Varela, Colombia.

The company ascribed its strong EBITDA figure to steel prices that “increased significantly in the period under a strong global pricing environment, particularly in the North American steel market.” Ternium adds, “On the other hand, the company's cost per ton also increased, mainly reflecting higher costs of raw materials, purchased slabs and energy.”

The company says it sees more of the same going forward: “After achieving record EBITDA in the first quarter of 2021, Ternium expects a sequentially higher EBITDA in the second quarter primarily due to an increase in realized steel prices, partially offset by higher cost per ton due to higher iron ore, scrap and slab costs flowing through the company’s inventories.”

Ternium says it anticipates volumes to remain stable in the second quarter, with shipment increases in Mexico offset by lower slab sales to third parties. “Following the pandemic-induced decrease in steel consumption during the first half of 2020, an increased demand for steel has outpaced the speed of the recovery in global steel production,” the company adds.

The demand-supply imbalance “has driven a significant increase in steel benchmark prices around the globe over the last nine months,” Ternium states. “The company currently expects these conditions will tend to normalize during the second half of 2021, as steel capacity utilization increases [and] government stimulus programs continue to be deployed and the pandemic effects begin to wane as a result o vaccination programs.”

The company says it “anticipates sequentially higher realized steel prices in Mexico in the second quarter of 2021, as prices in the USMCA (United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement) market continue to increase and quarterly contract prices reset, with a lag, at higher levels than in the first quarter of 2021.”