![]() ![]() The U.S., where recent legislation requires that EV batteries increasingly be sourced domestically or from certain trade partners, has very limited lithium mining in operation and permitting rules that may slow efforts to bring more online. Lithium is currently mined in a relatively limited number of countries, with supply dominated by Australia, Chile and only a few others. Other crucial minerals, including graphite, cobalt and nickel, will also see demand jump by a factor of around 20. ![]() In a “sustainable development scenario” where the world is on track to meet the climate change goals of the Paris Agreement, lithium will see a 42-fold increase in demand. The International Energy Agency projects a thirteenfold increase in demand for lithium between 20, based on policies in place in May 2021 - and that’s even if the world isn’t doing so well on climate targets. In the U.S., the Biden administration has set a goal of making half of all new car sales EVs by 2030 - and new legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and California’s 2035 ban on gas-powered vehicles is putting muscle behind that goal. That could lead to 469 million passenger electric vehicles on the road by 2035, according to one projection from BloombergNEF - or 612 million if the world gets on track toward net-zero emissions by midcentury. Globally, consumers bought 6.6 million plug-in vehicles in 2021, a number projected to triple by 2025. “The demand projections are growing a lot quicker than the potential to bring on new supplies.” “We’re in a supply deficit as we speak, from the global perspective,” said Andrew Miller, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a consulting firm. Just as fossil fuels have powered the global economy for the past 150 years, these minerals will be the crux of the energy future. Complicating the picture, the minerals needed to fuel the EV boom are also increasingly in demand for energy storage and other clean energy technology. The batteries that power all those EVs need minerals - cobalt, nickel, graphite and, in particular, lithium - and the race is now on to mine and process enough of them. A lot of rocks.ĭemand for EVs is soaring in many parts of the globe, and a wave of domestic policies will send it skyrocketing in the U.S. If the world wants to replace all its gas-burning cars and trucks with cleaner electric vehicles, it will have to dig up rocks. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |