The future of electric vehicles and the Lithium battery problem

In February, US carmaker Tesla signed a five-year deal to secure Lithium supplies from Perth, Australia-based Liontown Resources. Previously, in December 2021, Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second largest mining company, announced that it plans to spend $825 million to acquire a Lithium mine in Argentina. The South American country also attracted $4 billion from South Korean steelmaker Posco.

Prices for Lithium, Cobalt and Nickel, metals used as materials for electric batteries, have skyrocketed since last year due to a variety of factors including the evolving clean energy market, COVID-19 and the international situation. The average price of Lithium Carbonate has increased about 10 times in the past year, leading to a recent increase in the price of new energy vehicles in China. Even so, tram still maintains its attraction to the people

Mr. Jin Sheng, a resident of Shanghai, China said: “I believe electric cars are the future trend. I think after three, five or 10 years, there will be more and more electric cars on the roads.”.

“We can see the demand for cars in the market is very large. They believe that electric cars help reduce air pollution. More and more people are prioritizing buying electric cars as a means of transport for their families.” – Ms. Wu Jiaxian, Dealer Manager of Xiaopeng Motors Shanghai, China, shared.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global electric vehicle sales must reach 47 million per year by 2030 to ensure traffic emissions are in line with the “sustainable development scenario”, keeping global warming is “below” 2 degrees Celsius. This means that within the next 7 years, manufacturers will have to increase the amount of Lithium mining by 6 times today.

How to find an adequate supply of Lithium is considered one of the most difficult problems for the electric vehicle industry.

* Invite readers to watch programs broadcast by Vietnam Television on TV Online and VTVGo!