Energetica India - June 2020

on the road by 2025. Every new Volvo car launched from 2019 onwards has an electric motor. France plans to end sales of all gas and diesel cars by 2040 with Germany mandating that all new cars are to be electric by 2030. Battery makers including Tesla, Panasonic and LG Chem are expanding their production and expected to continue to expand production over the coming years. Lithium’s moniker is ‘white petroleum’ due to dramatic need for supplies from the rise of battery gigafactories, electric vehicles, powerwalls and energy storage businesses. Lithium-ion batteries even play a major role in the production of ventilators. Michael Farrell, CEO, ResMed, noted that his com- pany needs help with the acquisition of lithium-ion batteries to produce these valuable breathing machines. Due to COVID-19, there are growing concerns about the supply chain for lithium. A Benchmark report reports that some major lithium exporters, from Australia to Chile, are having trouble getting shipments out. The result will be less lithium for manu- facturers, and therein, problems manufacturing enough lithium batteries. The lithium industry has a poor track record of delivering supply to the market as demonstrated by multiple projects announced earlier this decade not being built, and multiple expansion plans of existing operations not being realized. I believe that the main reasons for this lack of success include a limited pool of know-how from where to draw talent, challenging technological implementation with few peer assets to use as guidance, and a limited number of assets globally. ELECTRIC VEHICLE 42 energetica INDIA- June_2020