Tesla has remained dominant in the EV market for many years but a number of other car companies are switching over popular models to lines of electric vehicles. General Motors for example is spending upwards of $35bn to create innovations on its EV lines. Volkswagen has set targets to have half its vehicle sales be EVs by 2030 and to be close to an EV only car company by 2040.
With this increase in demand and the shift from manufacturers, the mining industry is feeling the push like never before. An EV at this time takes up to 6 times the minerals required to complete a traditional combustion vehicle. This creates an imbalance for the world’s demand on the supply side.
From nickel, copper, and cobalt to graphite, lithium, and rare earth minerals such as neodymium and dysprosium, so many of the materials used in EVs are mined in various countries around the world where labor laws and environmental standards tend to be less than desirable.
Our path to net-zero will take an excessive amount of lithium and the projected demand is sure to pass the supply of lithium on the market today. Improving the security of supply will be necessary for the future as well as a sliding scale for costs on raw materials as the supply goes down.
Many car manufacturers are anticipating this concern and establishing their own relationships with mining companies now. The future in mining thanks to electric vehicles is looking very promising. As manufacturers continue to ramp up the production of EVs we will see even greater partnerships in mining and more development in mining processes.
Check back often to learn more about all of the latest developments in the mining industry. As we continue to see these investments in EVs mining companies will need to develop unique ways to gain the upper hand on their competition.
This post was written by Justin Tidd, Director at Becker Mining Systems! For nearly a half a century, Becker Mining has been at the forefront of industry safety. Becker/SMC is the industry’s leader in E-House Manufacturers USA increasingly more sophisticated electrical control systems. Most of the major innovations, design features and specialized electrical components have been developed by Becker/SMC.
