UK electric cars will require twice the world’s supply of cobalt

jack_christie

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A team of scientists has written to the Committee of Climate Change warning that if the UK’s 31.5 million cars are replaced by electric vehicles by 2050, as is currently planned by the Government, this will require almost twice the current annual global supply of cobalt.

The researchers have also calculated that based on the latest ‘811’ battery technology (80 per cent nickel, 10 per cent cobalt, 10 per cent manganese), UK demand for EV batteries will require almost the total amount of neodymium produced globally each year, three quarter’s of the world’s lithium, and “at least half” of the world’s copper.


https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-n...ll-require-twice-the-world-s-supply-of-cobalt

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/...ut-resource-challenge-of-meeting-net-zer.html
 
Back to lead-acid then? I can hear the laughs of milk floats and forklifts from here.

I suspect that we might have a tiny change in technology before 2050 so it's probably not worth panicking yet. I'd like to see the chart of where we are now though with battery production against supply. The supply could also grow, of course, assuming that we don't run out before 2050 or we'd be right in the shit.
 
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