Electric vehicle powertrains are much more materially diverse than the internal-combustion engine vehicles they replace. As a result, they are putting sudden and unprecedented strain on several raw materials industries, according to James Edmondson, IDTechEx technology analyst. IDTechEx is an independent market research firm.
One of the most crucial materials is nickel, an essential part of the cathode in the Li-ion batteries enabling electrification. Most automakers utilize nickel-based batteries for their balance of energy and power density; for example BMW, Hyundai and Renault use variants of the Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) chemistry, while Tesla uses a Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA) chemistry. China also now favors NMC chemistries, having phased out Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LFP) chemistries, which is its subsidy program.
In 2019, more than 95 percent of new electric passenger cars sold used a variant of either NMC or NCA, as detailed in t
