Visualizing The EV Mineral Shortage

BY TYLER DURDEN

Did you know EVs need up to six times more minerals than conventional cars?

EVs are mineral-intensive and are pushing up demand for critical battery metals. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), lithium, nickel, and cobalt demand is expected to grow from 10%-20% to over 80% by 2030.

As countries around the world pledge to go all-electric by 2035 and 2040, Visual Capitalist's Tessa Di Grandi and Zack Aboulazm discuss whether we have enough mineral supply for EV demand?

Factors such as geopolitical concentration of resources, quality of materials, mining industry lead times, and environmental factors will together determine whether we have the minerals we need.

Let’s take a look at how critical minerals are affected.

Mineral

Constraints

Copper

Copper mines currently in operation are nearing their peak, suffering from reserve exhaustion, while ore quality in older mines is declining.

South American and Australian mines are located in areas where water availability can be scarce.
This could cause setbacks given the high water requirements needed for the mining process.

Nickel

There are a number of growing concerns related to higher CO2 emissions and waste disposal.

Nickel quality needs to be high (Class 1) for EV batteries. Most nickel in the global supply chain is unusable for EVs.

Cobalt

The Democratic Republic of Congo and China account for around 70% of production.

90% of cobalt produced is a by-product of nickel and copper, making new supply subject to the development of these mines.

Rare Earth Elements

Concerns surrounding negative environmental credentials in processing operations.

The value chain from mining to processing and magnet production is geographically concentrated in China.

Lithium

The world could face severe lithium shortages as early as 2025.

Lithium mines that started operations between 2010-2019 took an average of 16.5 years to develop.

China accounts for 60% of global production and more than 80% of lithium hydroxide.

Over 50% of lithium mines are located in areas that suffer water shortages.
This could cause setbacks, given the high water requirements for mining processes.

Recycling is a partial solution to alleviate critical mineral supply but will fall short of meeting the high levels of demand until around the 2030s.

The EV Supply Chain

Currently, the resources for EV batteries are concentrated in very few countries. This concentration is an increasing concern for supply chain distribution.

China is home to more than half of the world’s lithium, cobalt, and graphite processing and refining capacity, as well as three-quarters of all lithium-ion battery production capacity.

Europe accounts for more than one-quarter of worldwide EV assembly, but home to very little of the supply chain, with the region’s cobalt processing share accounting for 20% of the mix.

Meanwhile, both Korea and Japan control a sizable portion of the downstream supply chain after raw material processing. Korea accounts for 15% of worldwide cathode material production capacity. Japan produces 14% of cathode and 11% of anode material.

The United States accounts for just 10% of EV production and 7% of battery production capacity.

Suggested Solutions

To reduce setbacks surrounding resource demand, KGP Auto’s new report recommends that material supply is accessed and matched to a broader fuel energy mix.

In this scenario, platinum group metals (PGMs) continue to play a leading role in the auto industry by assisting in building cleaner emission vehicles.

These vehicles support more sustainable fuels such as hydrogen, filling the gaps to net-zero targets by allowing EVs to catch up with material supply.

Read KGP Auto’s Powertrain Outlook Report to learn more.

Views: 93

Comment

You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!

Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!

Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

© 2024   Created by Webmaster.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service