Europe should have sufficient battery manufacture capacity for all its EV needs, explains Sam Hargreaves at T&E. Their report shows that Europe will not only achieve that capacity target this year itself, but has the ability to keep it up as EV sales continue to grow (460 GWh in 2025 and 700 GWh in 2030 of battery production in Europe). The report also stresses the major benefit of reduced waste. If manufacturers hit EU recycling targets, EV batteries will consume far less raw material than traditional fossil cars that burn up unrecoverable fuel. Expected technology advances will drive that consumption down further as the amount of lithium required per battery is halved in the next decade, says the report. Cobalt and nickel will also see significant falls. That recycling will help keep a lid on the amount of raw materials imported. And it would provide a level of energy security far better than the alternative of importing oil. Emissions reductions need not be the only driver.
T&Eâs study assesses the amount of raw materials needed to make electric vehicle batteries today and in the future – taking into account changes in manufacturing processes and recycling. It compares this with the raw materials needed to run a fossil fuel car to show that electric car batteries need significantly less raw materials.
The report also shows that on a systemic level Europeâs overreliance on oil imports far outweighs those of battery raw materials, helping Europe to become self-sufficient in batteries.
Key findings:
Electric vehicles consume far less raw material (metals) than fossil fuelled cars
When taking into account the recycling of the battery cell materials and that the majority of the metal content is recovered, T&E calculates how much is âconsumedâ or âlostâ during the lifetime of an EV. Under the EUâs current recycling recovery rate target, around 30 kilograms of metals would be lost (i.e. not recovered). That’s about the size of a football.
In contrast, the study shows that the weight of petrol or diesel that is burned during the average lifetime of a vehicle is around 300-400 times more than the total quantity of battery cells metals âlostâ. Over its lifetime, an average ICE car burns close to 17,000 litres of petrol, which would be equivalent to a stack of oil barrels 90m high.
Less raw material will be needed for batteries over time
Technological advancements will drive down the amount of lithium required to make an EV battery by half over the next decade. The amount of cobalt required will drop by more than three-quarters and nickel by around a fifth.
Europe will need to import less raw material because of recycling
In 2035 over a fifth of the lithium and nickel, and 65% of the cobalt, needed to make a new battery could come from recycling.
Europe will likely produce enough batteries to supply its own EV market as early as 2021
T&E calculates that there will be 460 GWh (in 2025) and 700 GWh (2030) of battery production in Europe – enough to meet the demand of electric cars.
All images taken from the report Batteries vs oil: A comparison of raw material needs
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Sam Hargreaves is a Communications Officer at Transport & Environment (T&E)
This article is published with permission
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