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Report: Incoming lithium battery shortage in 2022

Peter Brown
12 January 2022
The struggle continues to find enough semiconductors for automotive OEMs into 2022, but with news that the shortage may be easing this year, another problem is emerging in a lithium battery shortage that could be much worse.

In a report from DigiTimes Asia, the supply chain for lithium batteries cannot meet upcoming demand.
The automotive market is in the midst of a radical transition. Every automotive OEM has pledged to move to primarily sell electrified models by 2040 with rapid development and release of electric vehicles (EVs) coming in the next 20 years.
This means more EVs need more lithium batteries and supply is not sufficient to keep up with this anticipated demand, according to the report. These batteries are the core power supply for all-EVs and without enough supply, vehicle production will be impacted, possibly jeopardizing the roll out of the EVs that are part of these companies plans to meet upcoming regulations for carbon emissions and their own personal goals of becoming net carbon neutral.
Additionally, EVs are growing with government policies as they seek to meet climate change requirements, putting further attention on lithium battery supplies.
The Biden Administration last year pledged to swap all U.S. government vehicleswith electric models. In 2019, the government owned 645,000 vehicles with just 3,215 of these being electric, according to the General Services Administration. Biden also pledge to add 550,000 EV charging stations to help with infrastructure buildup.
These factors have added to the need for more batteries, and it is reaching thresholds where supply is falling short of demand. These factors will persist through 2022.