This contribution reveals that the supply of critical raw materials is not primarily a problem of future electric car manufacturing, rather a general strategic problem for the (high) technology sector in some industrialized countries. Although a temporary supply bottleneck for raw materials cannot be excluded when the mass production of electric cars starts within the next decade, in the long-term fundamental supply risks are unlikely. In the medium-term, there is no alternative to Lithium as electrochemically active component in batteries for high performance electric cars; however, there are chemical alternatives in the long-term. The demand for Lithium calculated for the future beyond 2030 thus is highly uncertain. Higher prices for Lithium salts are expected, but raw materials represent only a small share of Lithium-ion battery production costs. Additionally, the size of an average Lithium-ion battery was overestimated in recent leading future scenarios. The current slightly critical supply situation for rare earth elements is expected to change in the medium-term since new production sites will be opened and electric motors free of rare earth elements are already available or are currently being developed.
CITATION STYLE
Helmers, E. (2015). Possible resource restrictions for the future large-scale production of electric cars. In Competition and Conflicts on Resource Use (pp. 121–131). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10954-1_9
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