However, the necessary raw materials are key elements for producing electric vehicle batteries, including cobalt, nickel, lithium, and manganese for batteries and platinum for fuel cells.
A European study on Critical Raw Materials for Strategic Technologies and Sectors in the European Union (EU) evaluates several metals used in batteries and lists lithium (Li), cobalt (Co), and natural graphite as potential critical materials (Huisman et al., 2020; European Commission 2020b).
The individual parts are shredded to form granulate and this is then dried. The process produces aluminum, copper and plastics and, most importantly, a black powdery mixture that contains the essential battery raw materials: lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt and graphite.
Graphite is used as the anode material in lithium-ion batteries. It has the highest proportion by volume of all the battery raw materials and also represents a significant percentage of the costs of cell production.
Does abundant material scenario require less material demand of battery raw materials?
From the results, it can be concluded that the abundant material scenario requires less material demand of battery raw materials. The demand for cobalt and nickel in the abundant material scenario is about half of the demand for the same raw materials in the critical material scenario.
The report, Commodities at a glance: Special issue on strategic battery raw materials, documents the growing importance of electric mobility and the main materials used to make rechargeable car batteries.
What materials are used in EV batteries?
EV Batteries currently use the electrode materials of lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) (Matos et al., 2022). 1.2. State-of-the-art and future of LIB recycling