MILAN, May 10 (Reuters) – The automotive industry will face a shortage of batteries and raw materials in the coming years as it transitions to electric mobility, Stellantis Chief Executive Carlos Tavares.
Speaking at the FT Future of the Car 2022 conference, the boss of the world’s fourth-largest automaker said the industry could experience battery supply issues around 2025 and 2026.
“And if there is no shortage of batteries, then there will be a significant dependency of the Western world on Asia. This is something that we can easily anticipate,” he said. he warned.
“The rate at which everyone is currently building battery production capacity may be at the limit of being able to support the fast-moving markets in which we operate,” he added.
According to Carlos Tavares, the supply of raw materials could also pose structural problems in the years to come, with electric vehicles weighing on average 500 kilos more than those with combustion engines.
“That means a lot of raw material extraction, that means possibly a shortage of raw materials, that means possibly geopolitical risks,” Carlos Tavares said.
“We may not like how these raw materials are going to be sourced in a few years,” he added.
Carlos Tavares also said automakers were ready to “dump” battery-electric vehicles into the market, but warned of the lack of visibility from companies and regulators about the implications of the long-term transition.
“What will be the next step? Where is the clean energy? Where is the charging infrastructure? Where are the raw materials? Where are the geopolitical risks associated with the supply of these raw materials? of this transformation? (Report Giulio Piovaccari, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Kate Entringer)