March 30, 2023: Transport industry leaders have urged the EU to form a ‘raw materials club’ with the US to ensure a stable battery supply chain.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) issued the call on March 17, the day after the European Commission published a long-awaited Critical Raw Materials Act and Net-Zero Industry Act.
The draft raw materials regulations include an updated version of the EU’s list of critical raw materials and defines, for the first time, a list of strategic raw materials vital to powering the bloc’s green tech agenda, including domestic battery manufacturing for EVs and energy storage systems.
ACEA broadly welcomed the proposals but questioned the “potential effectiveness and overall coherence” of the proposals with the EU’s green agenda.
The body said more work needed to be done on the concept of establishing a raw materials club in conjunction with the US.
Meanwhile Recharge, the European association for advanced rechargeable and lithium batteries, said on March 16 the Commission’s proposals could become a game-changer for competitiveness in the battery value chain.
However, Recharge general manager Claude Chanson said it was crucial for the Commission to deal with “incoherencies” between the new proposals and existing EU laws that continue to delay investments and impede the bloc’s Green Deal.
The Commission said on December 9 it had concluded talks with Chile to unlock investment potential for supplies of lithium for Europe’s batteries manufacturing market.
Earlier this month, EU leaders and battery industry chiefs agreed to expand funding to support gigafactory projects and speed-up permitting processes, amid fears that investors are being lured away from Europe by lucrative tax breaks and incentives in the US and Asia.
Photo: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen with Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau touring Li-Cycle’s first commercial ‘spoke’ lithium ion battery recycling facility in Ontario earlier this month.