CRITICAL MINERALSElectric Cars May Be the “Green” Choice, but They're Driving a Scramble for Critical Minerals
Our cars are responsible for about 20 per cent of global carbon emissions. The move to electric vehicles (EVs) is central to the effort to decarbonize the world’s transport. But the clean-energy transition is also creating a new extractive frontier: the minerals that power electric car batteries. And the same forces that shaped the geopolitics of oil are re-emerging in the race to power the electric revolution.
Our cars are responsible for about 20 per cent of global carbon emissions. The move to electric vehicles (EVs) is central to the effort to decarbonize the world’s transport.
Electrifying only half of passenger cars could cut 1.5 billion tons of CO₂annually.
But the clean-energy transition is also creating a new extractive frontier: the minerals that power electric car batteries.
The same forces that once shaped the geopolitics of oil are re-emerging around the minerals that power the electric revolution.
So, how much of these materials does a single car really need? How rare and expensive are they to extract?
And if EV production keeps rising at today’s pace, can global supply and the environment sustain the demand? It’s an issue we explored in our recent Nature Correspondence.
Electric Car Market Is Growing – and So Is the Demand for Minerals
Right now, only a small fraction of cars worldwide is electric. But electric car sales have exploded, surpassing 17 million units in 2024 – more than one in five new cars sold worldwide.
By 2035, over half of all new passenger vehicles are expected to be electric. This shift will slash tailpipe emissions, but it is also fueling an unprecedented scramble for minerals.
On average, an EV contains six times more mineral content than a petrol car, most of it locked inside its battery, which itself can weigh half a ton.
A typical 60–80 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery – the size used in most mid-range EVs – requires around 30 to 35 kilograms of nickel, eight to 10 kilograms of lithium, nine kilograms of cobalt, 10 kilograms of manganese and often 50-100 kilograms of graphite (the most plentiful of these minerals on the planet).
Although battery chemistries are evolving and becoming more efficient, the mineral demand per vehicle remains substantial.
According to the International Energy Agency, global demand for these key materials could increase four- to six-fold by 2040 under current policy settings.
Battery minerals already account for a large share of an EV’s cost – typically 30 to 40 per cent of the total vehicle value and that’s mainly because these minerals are expensive.
Extraction of each mineral carries its own challenges. They can create damaged landscapes, toxic pollution and dangerous working conditions.
