Spark of inspiration: the huge opportunity to power the EV market | Podcast

Electric vehicles find themselves on a rocky road. Following years of growth and advancements in battery technology, supply chain bottlenecks have created uncertainty in the market. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was stacked with tax incentives intended to drive EV adoption, but it was vague on battery requirements. The focus on growing the mineral and battery component industries in the US has prompted fresh scrutiny on China’s dominance of production as exports of Chinese-made EVs rose to almost a million in 2022.  

Currently Indonesia and Thailand are planning similar government subsidies for EVs, while global organisations and governments have asked the Biden administration to relax its strict requirements around what EVs qualify for a tax credit. These policy debates continue against a backdrop of ever-increasing demand for EVs. Despite a 6% year-on-year decrease in total sales in December 2022, last year was a record year for EVs. 10.4 million units were sold.  

On the Interchange: Recharged, host David Banmiller is joined by Michael Insulan from Electra, and Egor Prokhodtsev from Wood Mackenzie. Michael is interim CFO and VP of Commercial at the battery manufacturer and explores how Electra is working to meet the demand for batteries by utilising new technologies and materials, as well as looking to recycle obsolete batteries. Egor is Senior Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie and with David examines the current state of the EV market.  

Demand is growing, and something has to power the millions of vehicles sold each year. There’s a huge opportunity for organisations at the right place and right time to secure their future as supplier to the world of lithium, cobalt and nickel. National bans on ICE vehicles in the UK and Germany by 2030, France by 2040, and California by 2035 are snapshots of where the world is heading. Smoothing the road ahead so EVs can drive us to a net zero world is critical.  

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