Why The EV Industry Has A Massive Supply Problem
Why The EV Industry Has A Massive Supply Problem
The United States has a lithium supply problem. Lithium-ion batteries are in everything we use — in phones, laptops, tablets, cameras and increasingly cars. Demand for lithium-ion batteries has risen sharply in the past five years and is expected to grow from a $44.2 billion market in 2020 to a $94.4 billion market by 2025.
This is largely due to the boom in electric cars. Nearly every major automaker has announced a transition to electric vehicles. Tesla delivered almost one million cars in 2021, and electric vehicle companies like Rivian and Lucid are rolling new models off the line. In order to power all of these EVs, we will need batteries, lots of them. Electric vehicle growth will be responsible for more than 90% of demand for lithium by 2030, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. This vital mineral in rechargeable batteries has earned the name “white gold” and the rush is on.
Former Tesla CTO and Elon Musk’s right-hand man, JB Straubel, started Redwood Materials in 2017 to help address the need for more raw materials and to solve the problem of e-waste. The company recycles end-of-life batteries and then supplies battery makers and auto companies with materials in short supply as EV production surges around the world. Straubel gave CNBC an inside look at its first recycling facility in Carson City, Nevada.
Cobalt also deserves a lot of attention because it is one of the most expensive materials found in lithium-ion batteries. Cobalt extraction is largely concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is linked to human rights abuses and child labor, while cobalt refinement is almost exclusively done in China, making cobalt part of a tenuous supply chain. These are some of the reasons why battery manufacturers like Samsung and Panasonic and car makers like Tesla and VW, along with a number of startups are working to eliminate cobalt from lithium-ion batteries completely.
Segments:
00:00 — How Tesla’s Battery Mastermind Is Tackling EV’s Biggest Problem
18:31 — Why The U.S. Has A Massive Lithium Supply Problem
34:39 — How Removing Cobalt From Batteries Can Make EVs Cheaper
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Why The EV Industry Has A Massive Supply Problem
I bet chinese have no problems with local populace protesting against lithium mines😂
Lol, he said respond to climate change…delusional…how do we charge all these batteries ? We use coal, oil and gas…isn’t that fossil fuels?
Is it possible to "de-carbonize" plastics and the myriad of other products produced from petroleum? Why are we killing the oil industry? What will we make plastics from if not petroleum? I see a lot of common-sense blindness in all of this.
When I was born in 1948 there were 2 billion people.
Now there’s 8 billion.
Demand for everything is excessive
Demand for many products and materials will continue to exceed supply
wow is this boring
Our community has a large electronics recycling/refurbishing center. It is volunteer based and diversified into crop gleaning, thrift store, and materials recycling. They even sell worm castings made from composted spoiled produce. I am glad to see this be taken seriously. Thank you, I hope you are rewarded financially as well as constructively.
Imagine we pay $$$$$ in electronics and they expect us to give it to them so they can sell it back to us for $$$$$. Verison told me my, still in box year old cell phones, we’re worth nothing.
That’s not tunnelling
For private property with class relation must end,it is no longer feasible with existence
People on here saying “ supposebly “ and “ cobulk “ 😂
Buffoons did not evaluate availability and aftermarket process
ive been saying this since the electric wave started, people look at me like i’m insane. people are so easily fooled with media propaganda
Who still working in the middle of the desert china
China is the solution for everything!
Anyone who can afford an EV
Can afford to make their own electricity
Excellent report! This type of information is typically so obscure or hidden from average consumers. It is so helpful to be educated on the effects and options we have using products. At least this way we can make more informed and intelligent decisions. Thank you CNBC!
What’s being done to increase the national power grid to meet demands of electric vehicular use??
I believe that $335 million in funding for lithium-ion battery recycling is included in the 2021 infrastructure law! I am looking at a goldmine, that has already been mined! From what I heard, recycled Lithium has a more ordered crystalline structure and makes for a slightly better battery. Eventually, recycling will be the primary source of all battery manufacturing in the next 10 years.
Exactly how will man repair the climate? Delusional at best..
Because it’s a scam
why other countries, Build in America!!!!!!
Get off zoom indian and stop criticizing mining in USA when it powers YOUR PHONE, and MEGA SUPER DUPER RECHARGABLE VIBRATOR
A dry
Q
This is just another reason why we need new nuclear and red hydrogen!!!
Obviously EVs are not a sustainable solution…pretty sure our government officials don’t care. They will get paid and someone else will deal with the ramifications later.
Unfortunately I fear they’re under estimating how many people are improperly disposing of these old batteries.
After annihilating 40 million of Indigenous Americans since the White Colonialists of Europe stepped on the Native’s land, they now want to make sure to "protect" these imprisoned Americans at their imprisoned Reservations by recycling these Batteries near Indian Land. How mighty White of these shameless occupiers who want to be respectful of Native Americans. Whites are still devising ways to destroy the Red-Skins inhabitants of the reservations through extraction of POISONOUS COBALT near the Indian Reservations Land. No shame at all for completely destroying these True Americans.
But where is america is going to mine
There is a supply problem because we have a mass motoring society. We need better mass transit instead.
You people that are gobbling up these electic car will be in for a shock when you can’t go anywhere because the turd government shout your car off will be wishing you didn’t buy a electric vehicle .
The real issue is how much the US relies on cars. The US needs to rezone areas to become mixed use and work on building better railways and public transportation.
So why you you don’t put all of things into one big poill and see what you make of it
Pure environmental disaster, just because *people* absolutely *refuse* to get involved in the understanding of *what they DO* in their everyday life.
Then, we blame the decision makers, the politicians and the industrials.
How is battery power vs hydrogen fuel cell with regards to the environment?
Product should be designed for 1. Longevity, 2. Repairability, 3. Recycle. This should be a LAW, because it is common sence.
Pardon my language but typical explanatory doodoo.. If batteries are sold to manufacturers & industry supply chain at lower price & improves most if not all aspects of their margins, then why are batteries still so expensive
The world reserves of lithium, cobalt, nickel, lead, manganese are too small to make an EV world. Unicorn worshipers don’t care. Their view is that through "transitioning" from fossil fuels, also known as starvation, deprivation, and destitution and poverty, these metals will magically appear. The silver does not exist for a solar world. Again, they don’t care. Through mass poverty caused by huge power cost increases, it will magically appear. Reality is not their big thing.
The reason why the manufacture of electric cars don’t use recycled battery because it cost more to recycle than to take it out of the ground. So if they start using recycled batteries the electric car will cost a lot more, It would be foolish to think it won’t. In order to to recycle batteries You must use chemicals process to separate Material Components. If you believe There Isn’t a chemical process just look at the machinery the redwood factory uses, The red flag would be when he says "we use a safe process". The next question would be if these chemicals that separate the material component does it do any harm to the environment?🤔
China 🇨🇳 is using salt 🧂 Na
They refined it to equal power 🔋 of lithium. There’s more salt 2000 times more than lithium. 〽️ If salt can perform better in batteries where’s the shortage?
Africa is the key all needed materials come from africa
CONGRATULATIONS AND PRAYERS BY RAVINDER TALWAR H.NO 21 EKTA VIHAR NEAR GROVER COLONY 120 FT.ROAD JALANDHAR CITY PUNJAB INDIA
Longest commercial I’ve seen. Thats all it is.
Interesting that Lithium recycling isn’t mentioned.
Supply chain issues. The current excuse for incompetence, sloth and stupidity. Has everyone turned stupid with the Covid pandemic?
✝ G-D BLESS HAVE A BLESSED REST OF THE DAY.
The more you look, the more you see how unworkable a world of EV’s truly is.
once a battery burns, the metals should still be present and recyclable.
Good
Corrupt Dem Govt collusion with corrupt UAW unions and the Mafia bosses who control them expose the nexus between organized crime and government.
No bailouts!
No taxpayer subsidy to corrupt UAW/Mafia!
Prosecution and jail instead.
I feel like companies kinda "screwed the pooch" on this one.
Millenials remember the recycling myth of the late 80s and early 90s.
Those are now your customers for EVs.
You really wanna go back to recycling? That’s your pitch? Seriously?