How the Lithium Shortage Is Affecting the Electric
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Many car manufacturing companies are taking part in the 2022 Austin Auto Show where they are showcasing their electric cars. Most of the electric vehicles on the show’s floor are already limited in availability, with the spokesperson for Ford revealing that its F-150 model has more 100,000 orders, despite not having been released yet.
The 2022 Niro electric vehicle by Kia is also on display. This limited production model is only sold in a number of states in specific retailers.
EnergyX CEO and Founder Teague Egan has argued that the lithium scarcity in the market may be a major cause of the limited availability of these vehicles. Lithium is essential for the manufacture of all the different types of batteries for electric cars.
Egan’s company is working on more efficient ways to extract lithium in order to get more of the metal to the market. He notes that if the lithium shortage isn’t solved soon, it will take longer for electric cars to come to market as well as contribute to even more expensive electric cars.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, revealed recently that the company was looking into mining and refining lithium, noting that the metal’s price had increased significantly. Last week, Musk stated that insufficient lithium was an obstacle to increasing Tesla’s production, explaining that despite the abundance of lithium on the planet, the speed at which the mineral was being extracted and refined was slow. This, he added, was probably playing a role in the metal’s increasing price.
Musk also urged more entrepreneurs to venture into the lithium business. Tesla has yet to deliver its Cybertrucks, despite having roughly 3 million preorders dating five years back. Egan believes that getting the Gigafactory online and securing a supply of steel may be other contributing factors to the Cybertruck’s delay.
Edward Anderson, a professor at the University of Texas, also believes that the increase in price is being caused by the lithium shortage in the market. Anderson explained that electric car production was about a thousand dollars more expensive than it was a year or so ago, noting that this would likely worsen if the shortage wasn’t solved soon.
He added that Tesla wouldn’t be able to meet its production goals if the lithium shortage wasn’t rectified soon. Projections from experts show that if more lithium isn’t sold on the market, electric car production will decrease nearly 50%.
The Austin Auto Show is being held at the Austin Convention Center.
As the raw material shortage continues to bite, electric vehicle sector players such as Mullen Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN) will have no choice but to get very creative in order to find workarounds to the supply crunch.
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