Not Enough Lithium To Satisfy US EV Adoption Goals, Says Mining CEO
Steven Loveday - Yesterday 10:17 AM
And there's just no way to change the situation quickly, as the US has fallen way behind.
Automakers already made it clear that the rules that will be put into law thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act will likely cripple EV producers long before promoting them. This is because the US simply doesn't have the battery material mining operations in place that are needed for the growing number of EVs on the road today. Now, the CEO of Piedmont Lithium is chiming in.
For background, the new US federal electric vehicle tax credit has strict requirements related not only to the EVs being manufactured in North America, but also to where the materials are sourced from. More specifically, the EVs' batteries must be made with materials sourced domestically, or from a country that has a free trade agreement with the US. The rules aren't as strict initially, but by 2026, vehicles will need to have 80% of critical materials sourced based on the rules.
Having rules that help make the US less reliant on other countries is arguably a positive. However, it's going to take some time for the country to catch up when it comes to lithium extraction and processing. Piedmont Lithium CEO Keith Phillips told Yahoo Finance Live in a recent interview:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/not-enough-lithium-to-satisfy-us-ev-adoption-goals-says-mining-ceo/ar-AA11B8um?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=19063d8d526046aeb31d0aaa287eba83
