Lithium processors risk shortfall as EV batteries quadruple demand
LONDON - Producers of processed lithium — an essential element for batteries used in electric cars — are agreeing to long-term contracts with their customers to fund the investments needed to address a looming shortfall.
Demand for battery-grade lithium compounds is expected to skyrocket in the next decades in tandem with soaring demand for electric cars as
governments, individual consumers and automakers from
BMW to
Volvo try to reduce their carbon footprint. Lithium also has a role to play in
power-grid storage systems from companies like Tesla, and could be used in future technology such as the
solid-state batteries being pursued by Toyota and others.
The production and use of electric cars is projected by Morgan Stanley analysts to rise to 2.9 percent of 99 million new vehicles in 2020 and to 9.4 percent of 102 million new vehicles in 2025, from 1.1 percent of 86.5 million this year.
By 2050, 81 percent of 132 million new auto sales will be electric, Morgan Stanley says.