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The hunt is on for a better battery. To reduce the impact of climate change we'll need to move away from our centuries-old addiction to fossil fuels. That means fleets of electric cars and batteries to power them.
Lithium is increasingly crucial to the battery supply chain for electric vehicles. Now countries and companies are racing to meet demand. China leads the way in planned lithium ion battery manufacturing capacity. It's followed by Europe, with the United States in third position.
In 2021, it's estimated three of the top five battery producers in the world will come from China. But Europe's catching up fast. In Britain, Hyperdrive is aiming to create better battery technology for electric vehicles and storage of renewable energy, rather than go all out for mass production.
We're seeing the increase in electrictrification of all sorts of things apart from passenger cars, and that's leading to a big increase in the demand for our technology. Brussels, meanwhile, wants an Airbus-style battery consortium, while Swedish company Northvolt aims to build Europe's largest lithium ion battery factory.
We're in the midst of a global battery arms race in the wake of a wall of electric vehicle demand.
The UK government has even pledged 246 million pounds to boost expertise in battery technology.
This money is so important to get the UK to being world class in battery technology, from fundamental research in manufacturing batteries.
But current lithium ion technology relies on a host of natural resources. Alongside lithium, these range from aluminium to nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese - materials concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the west coast of South America and Chile, and Australia, which could simply shift our raw material dependency to new regions.
In 2015, around 1.9 million electric vehicles were produced. By 2025, that number is expected to reach over 30 million. For carmakers, two key strategies will become ever more important - securing high-quality sources of battery material, and harnessing the technology that will determine just how cheaply and effectively those batteries can power their vehicles.