https://www.miningweekly.com
Africa|Engines|Infrastructure|Platinum|Power|Road|Services|Solar|Equipment|Infrastructure
Africa|Engines|Infrastructure|Platinum|Power|Road|Services|Solar|Equipment|Infrastructure
africa|engines|infrastructure|platinum|power|road|services|solar|equipment|infrastructure

Meeting global EV targets will be ‘extremely challenging’ owing to raw material shortages

31st March 2023

By: Darren Parker

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

     

Font size: - +

Chemicals company BASF global precious metal services senior VP Timothy Ingle told delegates attending the Platinum Group Metals Day, in Johannesburg, earlier this week, that it would be extremely challenging from a raw materials perspective 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.

Ingle pointed to challenges faced globally 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 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.

Anecdotally, Ingle shared that Uber drivers in northern Europe were trending towards buying ICE 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 VP Bernhard Fuchs 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,” Fuchs said.

Volkswagen Group South Africa volume planning manager and product marketing head Gina Handley added that high living standards measure (LSM) groups were now moving increasingly towards solar as an alternative power source. Therefore, to charge an EV at home was expected to be more affordable than relying on the grid for those in that bracket.

“The journey to EVs is going to happen in South Africa, but it’s not happening at the rate we’ve seen in other international markets. We’ve also seen a lot of other international markets introduce quite stringent strategies towards introducing Evs, which in the South Africa context we haven’t done so yet.

“So we'll see EVs coming in but it will definitely be in the higher LSM groups,” Handley said, noting that EVs were not cheap – a problem in a country where affordable motoring was high in demand.

She said Volkswagen expected most households who can afford EVs to buy them as second cars used for short-range day-to-day commuting, while a regular ICE vehicle will be used for longer trips.

“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..

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

Showroom

Rittal
Rittal

Rittal is a world leading provider of top-quality integrated systems for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Stewarts & Lloyds
Stewarts & Lloyds

Stewarts & Lloyds today supplies steel and tube, pipe and fittings, valves, pumps, irrigation, fencing, profiling and roofing products. The cash...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

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?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.201 0.239s - 134pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now