The study, Inflation Reduction Act: Impact on North America...

The study, Inflation Reduction Act: Impact on North America Metals and Minerals Market, sees “considerable challenges” in meeting the increased demand driven by the Inflation Reduction Act for decarbonization technologies such as electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and lithium ion batteries.

The study says demand will continue “to accelerate and be materially higher” for lithium, cobalt, and nickel with demand rising 15, 14 and 13 percent, respectively, by 2035 compared with projected increases before the Inflation Reduction Act was enacted in August 2022.

Of the four materials analyzed in the study, only lithium is likely to be sufficiently supplied to the United States under the Inflation Reduction Act’s domestic content requirements while cobalt and nickel are both unlikely to be sourced at levels high enough to meet demand, the study found.