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Electric batteries and Critical Materials Dependency: a Geopolitical Analysis of the USA and the European Union, 2023

This article estimates the import dependency of the USA and the European Union on the raw materials needed to produce batteries that equip Electric Vehicles. The dependency is very high on many critical materials and on batteries themselves. In a geopolitical context marked by the rising US-China rivalry and new cold wars, it has prompted the USA and the EU to support local mining and processing of critical materials in an attempt to recover their strategic autonomy. They have also deployed raw material diplomacy to secure access to resource-rich countries by favouring allied countries whenever possible. Both decisions are difficult to implement, and progress is slow. China's dominance over the electric battery is difficult to circumscribe, especially since the USA, with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), does not hesitate to defend its interests at the expense of the EU. The result is a politicisation of business, forcing global production networks to align themselves with the opposing blocs.

2021

This discussion paper, is the result of an overall effort undertaken by the Sustainable Mobility for All partnership, in conjunction with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) Programme. It questions whether the Global North's approach to electromobility is suitable for countries in the Global South, particularly Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It complements two other policy papers by the SuM4All partnership: (i) The Digital toolkit for Energy and Mobility, which provides useful resources to integrate policy measures toward sustainable mobility; and (ii) Sustainable Electric Mobility: Building Blocks and Policy Recommendations on policy barriers to electromobility and essential building blocks for public policy in this area. Released under the Global Roadmap of Action series (GRA)ii, these papers contribute to a deeper understanding of the comprehensive policy framework required to transition to sustainable mobility...

2024

Small and medium-sized cities around the world aspire to become greener, smarter, more liveable for citizens and appealing to tourists. In Europe, they undertake initiatives such as Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and Electric Vehicle Charging Plans to make their transport infrastructures more sustainable and friendly to electromobility. In Asia, too, Chinese small cities can profit from several policies and incentives to promote electric mobility and it is of interest to see how these compare to the European cases. A major part of this paper refers to the European experience and more particularly that of Greece drawing largely on the experience from Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and Electric Vehicles Charging Plans studies performed in Northern Greece and its northern border regions. The experience of China and its promotion of e-mobility in small urban areas is also reviewed and useful conclusions are drawn. The results show that there are several measures and policies specifically suited to small and medium-sized urban areas as well as those that are in the periphery of the country near border crossings to other countries. The final evaluation and selection should be made following the formulation, at an early stage, of a comprehensive and all-inclusive strategic plan for the promotion of emobility in the area. The novelty of the paper consists of a concise and all-inclusive reference to the factors affecting the promotion of electromobility in the special case of small and medium-sized urban areas as well as border areas and the recommendations for measures and policies that are given in Table 2. A novelty is also the SWOT analysis performed as well as the fact of the parallel presentation of European and Chinese policies.

Sustainability

The development of electric vehicles (EVs) is happening around the world with different goals. Many researchers have worked on various aspects of EVs from technological and supporting policy issues to the development of required infrastructures. However, arguing the proper time to realize the spreading of EVs in each region is neglected. For this purpose, the performance of two contextual factors in each region on the growth of EVs is investigated. Low carbon electricity generation and greenhouse gases emissions are the selected parameters, which are explored in the context of nine European countries, besides Luxembourg, to find their impacts on the issue. These countries have the highest shares of EVs in their energy systems. The achieved results are applied to the Luxembourg case to evaluate how different contextual factors may have hindered the growth of EVs here. In the next step, an analogy between the spreading EVs in Luxembourg and leapfrogging different technologies in the w...

Sustainability, 2021

This project report presents the rationale and the first results as regards the ongoing learning process of the PROMETEUS (PROMotion of EmobiliTy in EU regionS) project, co-financed by the Interreg Europe program, in the context of EU policies and programs dedicated to the promotion of sustainable mobility, and electric mobility in particular. Electric mobility, and in general low-carbon mobility, is one of the main targets of the European Union’s policies dedicated to a green transition. Despite continuous efforts, the number of electric cars in circulation remains low and the objectives of expanding the market for such vehicles by 2030 are still far from being fulfilled. Up until 2018, the share of electric vehicles was in fact only 1.5% of total car sales in the EU. Specifically, it has been noted that an increase in the uptake of electric vehicles in Europe is hampered by the presence of three main barriers: affordability, infrastructure availability, and lack of investments. In...

Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 2014

Sustainability

The decarbonization of the mobility and energy sector is one of the major necessary trends for achieving targets set for the European Union (EU) in the 2020 and 2030 climate and energy frameworks. Two key technologies which offer great potential for climate change mitigation are electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energies (REs). Thus, there is the need for innovative and stable policies in order to favor these technologies. The purpose of the study is to identify and compare features of policies for the integration of EVs, REs, and information and communication technology (ICT). This study uses an integrated Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), and Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal (PESTEL) qualitative methodology in order to show different policies and initiatives, related to e-mobility, RE and ICT, collected from five European regions. This research provides discernments to the EVs and RE challenges, such as the lack of capa...

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2020

The second automobile revolution, the age of electrification and digitalisation, is on its way. It is a gradual transition and not a sudden break. However, millions of electric vehicles (EVs) are now being sold, and the EV market is becoming a mass market propelled by economies of scale. It is reflected in the drop in the cost of batteries which will bring the price of EVs on a par with the price of conventional vehicles in the coming decade. Nonetheless, two interrelated issues have been underestimated and will now decide who will play a dominant role and benefit the most from the EV market. The first is the relative scarcity of raw materials from which batteries are made. The second is that the primary EV market is China which gives its companies a strategic advantage for the supply of critical metals and the large-scale production of batteries. Our research analyses the fundamental role of natural resources for the control of the EV market and the response of governments to ensure access to them. We show the importance of industrial and diplomatic policies in a context of geostrategic rivalries of large powers.

2024

Structural, Technological, Trade and Behavioral Changes from the 18th century to now have accelerated the shift away of the Western’s and Asian’s productive structures from the Material-intensive and Routinized Industrial Economy to the simultaneous Material-intensive and Immaterial-intensive Routinized Industrial and Smart, Connected and Service-oriented , Knowledge-intensive and Advanced Manufacturing Economy. Since then the West and Asia became the wealthiest regions of the world. Furthermore, the contribution of the Transportation Sector to Prosperity and Global Leadership, the current race to global leadership within the U.S. and China and the rise and adoption of ' Clean-Electric and Fully Autonomous Passengers Cars, Trucks, Planes, Ships and Trains ' have increased the demand and production of EVs. Empirically, in the U.S., SAMSUNG SDI (2023) found that with the government support policies, America's electric car market, which was just the size of 17,000 cars in 2010, has been greatly increased by more than 7 times for the past 4 years (2018-2022). Last year, electric car sales reached 119,710 cars, over the 100, 000 mark for the first time. Furthermore, in 2022, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the electric car sales in the US reached 1 million and is expected to be 1.6 million in 2023. At the global level, IEA (2023) found that IEA (2023) found that in the course of just five years, from 2017 to 2022, EV sales jumped from around 1 million to more than 10 million. It previously took five years from 2012 to 2017 for EV to grow from 100 000 to 1 million, underscoring the exponential nature of EV sales growth. However, most of the demand of EVs has targeted the Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). Since then, the move towards Sustainability throughout the adoption of the ' Clean-Electric and Fully Autonomous Passengers Cars, Trucks, Planes, Ships and Trains ' and by extension the Material-intensive and Immaterial-intensive Personalized, Flexible, Agile, Green, Clean, Safe, Smart and Connected Economy on the one hand and the race to EVs and global leadership within the U.S. and China on the second hand have started to increase the demand of Lithium-ion battery and make it easier for the 21st century to become a ‘ Lithium-centric Economy and Civilization ’. In fact, Airswift (2022) found that lithium is a raw material that is so vital for e-vehicles to run, that some Tesla models contain 40 kilos of it in their battery packs. It's a good measuring stick when compared to other products from different supply chains, such as laptop (30 grams) and smartphone (3 grams) batteries. As a result, data from the US Geological Survey finds that lithium-ion batteries correspond to 74% of the end-use of lithium. Furthermore, Airswift (2022) found that the demand for lithium continues to increase. It's expected that by 2025, this need will even triple. McKinsey & Company (2022) forecasts continued growth of Li-ion batteries at an annual compound rate of approximately 30% over the next decade. In fact, by 2030, Electric Vehicles, along with energy-storage systems, e-bikes, electrification of tools, and other battery-intensive applications, could account for 4,000 to 4,500 gigawatt-hours of Li-ion demand. McKinsey & Company (2022) also found that in 2015, less than 30% of lithium demand was for batteries; the bulk of demand was split between ceramics and glasses (35%) and greases, metallurgical powders, polymers, and other industrial uses (35-plus percent). By 2030, batteries are expected to account for 95% of lithium demand, and total needs will grow annually by 25 to 26 percent to reach 3.3 million to 3.8 million metric tons LCE depending on scenarios considered. However and unfortunately for the High-income and Upstream Economies of the North that are massively and dramatically relying on EVs in order to accelerate their move towards Sustainability, the growing demand of EVs and Lithium-ion batteries could increase their dependency to China. In fact, based up on the findings of Statista, 2023, in 2022, China did accountfor 50.5% of the global market of lithium-ion battery while Asia did account for 86.7%. Meaning that the production of lithium-ion battery is mainly concentrated in Asia (cf. Table 3). Since then, in the context of race to global leadership within the US and China with its associated anti-globalization resentment, protectionism, high risk of supply chain crisis and fragmentation, many countries around the world including the US have started to massively invest in the exploration and production of Lithium in order to diversify their production and increase their independency. Empirically, at the global level, IEA (2023) finds that in response to the growing demand of EV and Lithium-ion batteries, investment in critical mineral development rose 30% last year (2022), following a 20% increase in 2021.Furthermore, Airswift (2022) found that a very promising future for a segment that keeps drawing attention from venture capitalists; so far, USD$ 2.5 billion has been injected through companies worldwide with an average age of 8 years. In the U.S. emphasis has put on New Industrial Policy, Executive Orders and Massive Subsidies ( The White House Council on Environmental Quality, 2015; The White House, 2021 and The White House, 2023) in order to reduce the dependency to China. Key Words: Structural, Technological, Trade and Behavioral Changes; Western’s and Asian’s Productive Structures; Material-intensive and Immaterial-intensive Routinized Industrial and Smart, Connected and Service-oriented , Knowledge-intensive and Advanced Manufacturing Economy; Clean-Electric and Fully Autonomous Passengers Cars, Trucks, Planes, Ships and Trains; Electric Vehicles (EVs); Lithium-ion batteries ; Lithium-centric Economy and Civilization; Race To Global Leadership.