Image: © Sergiy Serdyuk/Stock.adobe.com
With demand for EVs set to boom in California, manufacturers could struggle to maintain prices as the cost of lithium soars.
California has become the first US state to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, bringing it in line with the EU and potentially setting off a domino effect across other states.
Starting in 2026, 35pc of new vehicle sales in the state will have to be zero-emissions vehicles or plug-in hybrids, gradually rising to 100pc by 2035. However, drivers will still be able to use their existing gasoline-powered vehicles as well as buy used ones.
Gasoline, a fuel made from crude oil and other petroleum liquids, is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions on the planet because of its extensive use in vehicles around the world. In June, the EU agreed to ban the sale of vehicles with combustion engines by 2035.
California’s latest move means that the shift to electric vehicles will likely be accelerated in the state, where about 16pc of cars sold in the first three months of this year were electric.
However, the transition will pose some challenges. Apart from the need to significantly increase investment in and expansion of EV charging infrastructure across the most populous US state, EV manufacturers are dealing with a surge in the price of one essential element – lithium.
Lithium is an essential metal required in the development of EVs. Price tracking shows that lithium carbonate, the compound used in EV batteries, has seen a meteoric rise in price this year as demand for EVs continues to soar.
This means that manufacturers, already hampered by global supply chain issues, may find it hard to maintain price levels for electric cars and other vehicles.
Scarcity is not the only problem with the production of lithium. Metals such as lithium, zinc and manganese are often mined in ways that release them into the surrounding environment, which can exacerbate the climate crisis.
A team at iCRAG, the SFI research centre in applied geosciences based in University College Dublin, is focusing on identifying new and less-invasive technologies for Irish mineral exploration that don’t adversely affect the climate and help ramp-up renewable energy tech.
In July, iCRAG researchers joined a €7.5m EU project that aims to study exploration of minerals such as lithium, copper and zinc needed to manufacture green technologies. Last year, it also teamed up with Silicon Valley start-up KoBold Metals to find critical metals used in EVs.
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