Building a Resilient EV Battery Value Chain

Task Force 4: Refuelling Growth: Clean Energy and Green Transitions 1. The Challenge Decarbonising the transport sector is critical to meet climate change commitments. This task presents the G20 countries with an opportunity to emerge as a collaborative strategic unit in new sustainable mobility solutions. The grouping is uniquely positioned to deploy electric vehicles (EVs) at an augmented scale, leapfrogging traditional mobility models that perpetuate congestion, air pollution, and oil-import dependence while driving down the costs of batteries through economies of scale even faster than the rate at which current projections anticipate. [1] Policymakers across the world have been pushing for the indigenous development of lithium cells, which is expected to increase the demand for raw materials. A number of deals and treaties have been signed in the past four or so years for supplying raw materials like rare-earths and other critical minerals required for manufacturing battery cell components. Individual countries have small reserves of essential critical minerals for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Many countries do not have reserves of some essential Li-ion components, including lithium, cobalt, and nickel, nor of the copper used in conductors, cables, and busbars. China is the world leader in cell component manufacturing for lithium-ion batteries (LiB), with a global share of about 51 percent. [2] In Li-ion batteries, cathode materials vary, but standard formulations include minerals such as lithium, aluminium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel, while the anode is made of graphite. Recycling batteries can generate approximately 95 percent of these metals to be reused in manufacturing new batteries. In this regard, a sustainable and resilient value chain calls for addressing key challenges such as limited resource availability, environmental implications of extensive mining primary sources, unutilised batteries ending up in landfills, and geopolitical risks involving dependence on importing these critical components amidst price fluctuations in the global market due to supply chain irregularities.