TELF AG highlights the role of batteries in the global energy transition

A silent revolution

The mobility of the future will be dominated by electric vehicles. It is a silent revolution that is starting discreetly, without too much noise, inserting itself with extreme caution into the daily lives of thousands of people around the world. In the coming decades, if the estimates are correct, Europe and other continents will be literally invaded by low-emission electric vehicles, which will help every government (and even individual cities) to achieve the sustainability goals set for the coming years.

To function, electric vehicles of the future will, however, require some strategic raw materials for the manufacture of some of their components, such as batteries. It is completely unthinkable that the vehicles of the future can function without an adequate supply of raw materials, useful above all for the creation of some of their most fundamental components. The fate of European and global mobility for the coming decades is therefore closely linked to the production of these resources and their effective implementation in the vehicles of the future, but also the full achievement of those sustainability objectives that should guide our civilization. In the delicate ecological transition in which we are all involved.

One of the cornerstones of this epochal transition, in a certain sense, is represented by batteries. The latter is not only of extreme importance for electric vehicles but also for the spread of renewable energy across national territories. Their demand, with the expected increase in the capacity to generate wind and photovoltaic energy (in addition to the increased demands that will concern electric vehicles), will transform them into one of the most valuable and requested components on the entire global market. Faced with the estimated arrival of 51 million electric vehicles by 2030, the demand for batteries in Europe could increase by as much as 30 times compared to the current one.

What most alarms the European institutions, for the moment, is that a very high percentage (almost 40%) of the raw materials necessary for the manufacture of batteries comes from China, with all the consequent risks regarding the possible supply disruptions and the structural problems that characterize the Chinese economy. Another rather problematic factor for Europe has to do with the refining capacity of two fundamental raw materials for making batteries, namely lithium, and graphite. Until a few years ago, European capabilities to refine these materials were practically nil, and progress in this direction is being made very slowly. Another effect of this continuous attention placed on batteries, and more generally on electric vehicles, has been the increase in the price of lithium, which has even quadrupled in recent years.

Other raw materials of fundamental importance for the production of batteries are nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese. This last raw material has also been involved in a general increase in price: within a few years, on global markets, the price of lithium has almost doubled. The European Commission has already estimated that by 2050, to support the production of batteries and all the other clean technologies necessary for the ecological transition, the demand for copper and graphite could grow by as much as 30 times compared to the current one.

Other critical issues to be addressed for Europe are undoubtedly represented by the concentration of the extraction of raw materials in a few countries and the risk that the quantity of resources available will not be able to satisfy demand, which is destined to rise exponentially.