German car makers warned of possible battery materials shortage-Welt am Sonntag
FRANKFURT – The German car industry risks running short of key raw materials for automotive batteries, hampering a planned boost in the production of electric vehicles (EVs), Germany's largest industry association BDI warned.
"The risk of running into bottlenecks in raw material supply is increasing because demand is growing faster than production capacity," Matthias Wachter, head of security and raw materials at the BDI was quoted as saying by Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag.
"Without sufficient supplies for instance of cobalt, graphite, lithium or manganese there won't be any future technology 'made in Germany'," he added.
Demand for these materials is expected to soar as carmakers rush to embrace EVs in response to governments around the world cracking down on pollution.
German carmaker Volkswagen said it is pushing to secure long-term supply contracts to avoid material shortages as it aims to invest €34-billion in battery-powered cars by 2022 to challenge Tesla.
Daimler's Mercedes brand plans to offer an electric version of every model it sells by 2022, while rival BMW, a pioneer in electric cars with its i3 model, has vowed to achieve mass production by 2025 with 12 fully electric models.
Recycling companies such as Belgium's Umicore or US group Retriev Technologies are preparing to extract metals from old batteries so they can capitalise on an expected shortfall in materials.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation