Glencore Says Electric Car Boom Is Coming Faster Than Expected...

Glencore Says Electric Car Boom Is Coming Faster Than Expected
by
Jesse Riseborough
16 May 2017, 6:11 pm AEST

• An “electric vehicle revolution is happening,” CEO says
• European sales of alternative-fuel cars jumped 36% in 1Q

QuickTake: The Drive Towards Cleaner Cars





QuickTake: The Drive Towards Cleaner Cars

Glencore Plc Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg said the rise of electric cars will significantly boost demand for minerals including copper and lithium in the coming decades.

“The electric vehicle revolution is happening and its impact is likely to be felt faster than expected,” Glasenberg told investors at an industry conference in Barcelona on Tuesday. Almost all carmakers are increasing investment in electric vehicles as governments adopt tighter emissions targets, he added.


Ivan Glasenberg

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Electric vehicles require more copper wiring than standard internal combustion engines. For example, the battery in an electric car contains about 38 kilograms of copper, 11 kilograms of cobalt and 11 kilograms of nickel, according to Glencore. Those materials, along with maganese, stand to benefit from more demand for electric cars, Glasenberg said.

Demand is growing for battery-powered vehicles. European sales of alternative-fuel models, which include fully electric cars and hybrid vehicles, jumped 36 percent in the first quarter to 235,438 vehicles, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Volkswagen AG will triple spending on developing alternatives to combustion engines to 9 billion euros ($9.8 billion) over the next five years. Daimler AG’s bill for the transformation stands at 10 billion euros.

Peter Grauer, the chairman of Bloomberg LP, is a senior independent non-executive director at Glencore.