As electric vehicle sales soar, the industry is facing a host of bottlenecks: scaling up production of batteries and the raw materials that go into them takes time; global battery production is currently dominated by Asian firms; much of the necessary raw material is mined in unstable countries, and/or ones with poor environmental and human rights records; and mining and processing of raw materials present environmental challenges that make it challenging to ramp up domestic production. But a recent Bloomberg article highlights some recent examples of how a predicted shortage failed to materialize, due to efforts on both the supply and demand sides. A few years ago, prophets were predicting a crippling cobalt crunch, just as they’re now forecasting a looming lack of lithium. However, in the event, prices for cobalt have fallen about 40% from their highs earlier this year. Read original article here.
