The manufacture of batteries for electric cars currently takes place mainly in Asia, but in the coming years we should see more and more European factories. However, the supply of raw materials could be a serious problem for those factories, experts say.
Right now there seems to be a shortage of pretty much everything in the world. When it comes to cars, in the last – and coming – months this will, of course, mainly apply to chips. According to Reuters however, it may just happen that we have to add nickel, lithium, manganese and/or cobalt, raw materials for batteries. Based on reports from analyst Ultimate Media, the news agency states that shortages of these could pose a ‘serious threat’ to European battery production. It is seriously questionable whether the availability of these raw materials can meet the ever-growing demand.
And it is clear that that demand will grow. Worldwide, EV production is only increasing and especially in Europe, quite a few battery factories are to be built in the coming years. For example, Volkswagen wants to build six battery factories on our continent and Daimler recently joined a large Stellantis project. The goal: to become the European market leader when it comes to battery production, and thus surpass Volkswagen.
A possible shortage of raw materials would of course not be exclusive to European factories, but the great distance between the places where those raw materials come from and Europe does not make things any easier. Shortages and associated price hikes could then end the trend of making EVs cheaper and threaten automakers’ profit margins and EU-imposed carbon targets.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl