Batteries are the new oil — The race to dominate the new battery economy
Although it’s a US-centric article, it is actually relevant globally. Oil will not disappear in the short to medium term, but its strategic significance will wane over time. With that, comes a shift in power, as the economic balances tip away from a few oil producing countries, to often other countries which have the raw materials and production capabilities for producing batteries.
Over the next decade, Morgan Stanley analysts forecast the “balkanization” of the battery industry as governments and regions race to establish their own secure supplies of battery manufacturing capacity and key raw materials.
But we all know one of the environmental issues with batteries is also the extraction of rare Earth minerals for current battery design. So the potential shift in power is probably more short to medium term towards countries with the rare Earth minerals (and let’s hope not wars too). New battery design is looking at more environmentally friendly raw materials, and progress is already being made on this front, which, in my opinion, may mean the raw materials’ aspect at least may not be concentrated amongst just a few new countries. Production efficiency and capability will no doubt be the longer term factor at play.
#technology #environment #EV #batteries #economics
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