Meeting global EV targets threatened over raw material shortages

There are strong indications that it would be extremely challenging from a raw materials perspective for the automotive industry to meet the expected global uptake of ten-million electric vehicles (EVs) this year and the goal of reaching 40-million EVs on the road by 2030.

Senior vice president Timothy Ingle of chemicals company; BASF global precious metal service pointed to the challenges faced globally before the delegates attending the Platinum Group Metals Day in Johannesburg recently with securing base metal supply and, in particular, lithium and class one nickel.

He said that, overall, the different nuances present in various countries would dictate EV uptake rates particularly in developing countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil or India, where insufficient infrastructure existed to support a wholesale EV transition.

“I would expect that internal combustion engines (ICEs) will continue to be prevalent in countries like these in the future,” he said.

Ingle shared that Uber drivers in northern Europe were trending towards buying ICE (internal Combustion Engine) vehicles again, given the extraordinarily high cost of electricity in the region, making it cheaper to refuel a car with petrol or diesel than to recharge it from the grid.

Umicore precious metals management senior vice president, Bernhard Fuchs also agreed with Ingle’s sentiments, adding that, if the ICE era was reaching its end, it was only true for Europe.

“I don’t see any other area in the world which is following that thought at all, and Europe is by far not where the most cars are bought. There’s certainly a big future still for ICE cars in the world,”.

“For original-equipment manufacturers, it is very tough right now. They have to keep investing money for where ICE is right now and they have to also invest massively into battery EVs,” Fuchs added.