Battery manufacturers are confronting a severe lithium shortage, highlighting the need to challenge China’s dominance of raw material supply chains, an Australian lithium producer has warned.
Stuart Crow, chair of Lake Resources, said western companies and governments had failed to build adequate supply chains for lithium, making the sudden boom in electric vehicle manufacturing unsustainable.
“There simply isn’t going to be enough lithium on the face of the planet, regardless of who expands and who delivers, it just won’t be there,” he said. “The carmakers are starting to sense that maybe the battery makers aren’t going to be able to deliver.”