Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

Electric cars and batteries: how will the world produce enough?

Reducing the use of scarce metals — and recycling them — will be key to the world’s transition to electric vehicles.
  1. Davide Castelvecchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A worker wearing a face visor assembles an array of battery modules for an electric vehicle

Batteries for an electric car are assembled at the Audi production plant in Brussels. Credit: Audi AG

The age of the electric car is upon us. Earlier this year, the US automobile giant General Motors announced that it aims to stop selling petrol-powered and diesel models by 2035. Audi, based in Germany, plans to stop producing such vehicles by 2033. Many other automotive multinationals have issued similar road maps. Suddenly, major carmakers’ foot-dragging on electrifying their fleets is turning into a rush for the exit.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 596, 336-339 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02222-1

References

  1. International Energy Agency. The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions (IEA, 2021); available at https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions

    Google Scholar 

  2. BloombergNEF. Electric Vehicle Outlook 2021 (BNEF, 2021); available at https://about.bnef.com/electric-vehicle-outlook

    Google Scholar 

  3. Baars, J., Domenech, T., Bleischwitz, R., Melin, H. E. & Heidrich, O. Nature Sustain. 4, 71–79 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Li, W., Lee, S. & Manthiram, A. Adv. Mater. 32, 2002718 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Yang, J. H., Kim, H. & Ceder, G. Molecules 26, 3173 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Melin, H. E. et al. Science 373, 384–387 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lei, C. et al. Green Chem. 23, 4710–4715 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. International Energy Agency. Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector (IEA, 2021); available at https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links