The inevitability is comforting for bosses in industries from mining to chipmaking. Not, though, in battery manufacturing. Anticipating booming demand for electric vehicles (EV s), since 2018 companies around the world have ploughed more than $520bn into battery-making, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a research firm.
Lithium-based batteries are popular in the battery industry because of their light weight, which gives them a competitive advantage over other materials such as lead. This makes them an attractive option for subsequent applications such as consumer electronics or electric cars.
This metal, used mainly as an active material in the cathode, increases battery life and energy density in batteries. It provides stability to the battery structure while it is being charged and discharged.
But not sufficiently to entice motorists to go electric. And so the industry is facing a bust without ever having had much of a boom. On July 7th SK On, a giant South Korean battery-maker building factories in America to supply Ford and Volkswagen, said it was in a state of “emergency management”.
The growth of the battery industry has led to a real war to ensure the supply of key raw materials for their proper deployment. As a result, the prices of these materials have been rising in recent months due to a demand that is beginning to exceed supply.
Lithium and other key metals are shaping the future of battery technology. This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review's weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. I was chatting with a group recently about which technology is the most crucial one to address climate change.