US lithium mining: not if, but when – by Elle Farrell-Kingsley (Automotive World – November 8, 2022)

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As electric vehicle (EV) demand surges so too will lithium battery usage. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) forecasts that the global semiconductor industry will increase manufacturing capacity by 56% in the next decade.

This expansion is driven by the worldwide boom in EV sales, with 23 million electric passenger vehicles expected to be produced by 2030, says a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Furthermore, the worldwide market of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, the most common rechargeable car battery, was estimated at US$7bn in 2018 and is expected to reach US$58.8bn by 2024—significant growth.

Accommodating this demand has led to new incoming regulations and policies surrounding the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) best practices for developing batteries.

“Often, a public policy perspective, as well as a regulatory perspective, will drive countries to look at what has worked for other countries—and what hasn’t,” says Craig Dillard, Litigation Partner at law firm Foley & Lardner. Dillard works with companies within the technology space and has published extensively on the supply chain shortages of Li-ion batteries.

For the rest of this article: https://www.automotiveworld.com/articles/automaker-articles/us-lithium-mining-not-if-but-when/