Source: Our Blog – SUSTAINABLE NEWTON
| What About those EV Batteries?3/31/20224 Comments By Maurice Carter, Sustainable Newton Marketing & Communications Director We’ve gone from no one paying attention to the electric vehicle battery supply chain to everyone freaking out about it. Not long ago, nickel was a coin, cobalt was a paint color, and lithium was a drug used to treat certain mood disorders. You might have heard of lithium-ion batteries, but they weren’t something sold from a rack in the checkout line at your drug store. Even if there was one inside your cellphone, you couldn’t get inside to touch it. Electric vehicles (EVs) changed that. Or, rather, America’s late-to-the-party-gotta-catch-up embrace of EVs coupled with global supply chain issues have made batteries fodder for headlines like these: CNBC: How a global nickel shortage could disrupt the electric vehicle industryAxios: Ukraine crisis clouds global EV rolloutCNN: How a battery shortage could threaten US national securityNew York Times: The Lithium Gold Rush: Inside the Race to Power Electric Vehicles Locally, public reaction for and against Rivian’s planned assembly plant near Rutledge, Georgia has placed an even sharper edge on concerns raised by global events like the war in Ukraine. We’ve gone from no one paying attention to the electric vehicle battery supply chain to everyone freaking out about it. So, is the hysteria warranted? Concern, yes. Hysteria, no. It’s true, the current supply chain is heavily dependent on foreign sources for battery materials, and EV batteries are predominantly manufactured outside the US. A New York Times story last year reported “If current trends continue, China is projected to have 140 [battery] gigafactories by 2030, while Europe will have 17 and the United States, just 10.” That’s a problem. It’s also a good reason to be excited about the massive SK Battery America plant in Commerce, Georgia. |
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