International
-DW News
The year 2020 wasn’t just the year of the pandemic, it was also the year that e-mobility took off in earnest in Europe, with registrations of new plug-in electric vehicles soaring by 137%.
Of the 20 different materials used to produce e-car batteries lithium is considered the most pivotal because this unique light metal is a key component of high energy-density rechargeable batteries thanks to its electrochemical potential. It also can’t be substituted with any other material.
“The battery technology we have bound ourselves to for the next 10 to 15 years requires lithium. There’s no getting round that,” Michael Schmidt, economic geologist at the German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA) told DW.
Lithium makes up about 0.0007% of the world’s crust, and although it was added to the EU’s list of critical raw materials in 2020, Schmidt says lithium isn’t actually considered rare. It is…