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NEW YORK: According to sources familiar with the matter, US government officials plan to meet with leaders of car manufacturers and lithium miners in early May as part of the first effort of this kind to launch a national strategy. supply chain in electric vehicles.
While Volkswagen AG, Tesla Inc and other auto-based battery manufacturers are developing in the United States and investing billions of dollars in new technologies, they depend on mineral imports without having to to develop more mines and national processing facilities.
China already dominates the supply chain of electric vehicles. It produces nearly two-thirds of the world's lithium-ion batteries – compared with 5% in the US – and controls most of the world's lithium-based processing facilities, according to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, which tracks the prices of lithium-ion batteries worldwide. lithium and other products.
Lithium imports into the United States have almost doubled since 2014, in part because of the growing demand for Tesla, SK Innovation Co and other battery manufacturing companies in the country, according to the geological survey of the country.
"We need to find ways to more effectively develop the supply of essential minerals for our country, because these resources are vital to our national security and our economy," said Senator John Hoeven, member of the Senate Energy Committee and Minister of Energy. natural resources, in a statement to Reuters when he was asked questions about the meeting.
Hoeven and Senator Lisa Murkowski, Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, were invited to attend the meeting.
Posted in Dawn, April 7, 2019
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