Future of e-mobility hinges on improved lithium extraction

For the world to reach net zero carbon by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that two billion electric vehicles (EVs) will need to be on the road. This will be no easy task—there are approximately 1.4 billion cars in the world today, and the IEA estimates that only ten million EVs were sold globally in 2022, 14% of the total. Accelerated growth is urgently required, and one raw material will arguably propel the entire movement: lithium.

An essential component in the most common EV battery configurations used today, the US Geological Survey calculated that global lithium production in 2021 was 100,000 tons, with 22 million tons held in reserve. With the average lithium-ion battery pack containing 8kg of the metal, analysis by the World Economic Forum found that only 11.4 million batteries per year could be produced at current supply rates. Therefore, if EV demand continues to grow, it will outstrip manufacturing capacity in the relatively near term.