About two-thirds of the world’s manufacturing capacity for lithium-ion batteries, those most commonly used in electric vehicles, is in China, according to consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
People put that on the fact that European car manufacturers were never into electric cars, but I kinda disagree. It’s more complex, yet simple.
To make lithium-ion batteries, you need all the cobalt you can. Who is mining that cobalt? China. Where? In DRC. What was DRC’s relationship with Europe? Colonized, brutalized, terrorized for about 75 years, up to 1960. Do you think Europeans can just stroll in and start mining in the 2010s? Hell to the no. So they have to deal with China. China does business with the US, has an enormous market itself, doesn’t need to cut deals with Europe on scarce minerals. The end.
Simply put, China’s economies of scale and European’s past colonization destroyed the ability for the old continent to compete on battery manufacturing.
I like how karma is hitting Europe in new markets. But make no mistakes, China is not interested in environmental standards. China just does business (you know they build roads and shit all over Africa in exchange of all the minerals they need for electronics, right?) and they think that electric cars are hip, and in demand. I don’t think they think more than that.
Some analysts say Europe’s last hope may be to take the same approach as it did with Airbus (EADSY) in the aviation industry. The plane maker was created by merging a clutch of existing firms and is now the only serious challenger to Boeing (BA) in the United States.
Doing the same for electric batteries "could be a game-changer for the EU’s auto industry," Montgomery said.
If only Europe had been able to replicate Airbus in every segment of the economy… But also, I think it’s too late (it’s about who has control of resources; not Europe). Just continue to make gas-powered cars more efficient but way more importantly: reduce the amount of cooling and heating needed in buildings and homes. That will do great to planet earth and that’s what matters.