Automotive industry faces long term battery, raw material supply issues, Tavares says

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares retains a information meeting right after meeting with unions, in Turin, Italy, March 31, 2022. REUTERS/Massimo Pinca

MILAN, Might 10 (Reuters) – The automotive marketplace faces a shortage of batteries and uncooked supplies in the coming several years as aspect of its changeover in direction of electric powered mobility, the head of Stellantis (STLA.MI) Carlos Tavares explained on Tuesday.

Speaking at the FT Future of the Automobile 2022 convention, Tavares mentioned he could foresee the industry could put up with offer troubles with batteries around 2025, 2026.

“And if there is no brief source of batteries then there will be a substantial dependence of the Western planet vis-à-vis Asia. That is anything we can very easily foresee,” the CEO of the world’s fourth largest carmaker claimed.

“The velocity at which now everybody is developing manufacturing capacity for batteries is maybe on the edge to be ready to aid the fast switching marketplaces in which we are operating,” he claimed.

Tavares reported raw product supply could also pose structural challenges in the coming decades as electrical motor vehicles were on regular 500 kilos heavier than standard combustion motor ones.

“That signifies a lot of raw material extraction, that means inevitably shortage of raw components, that means sooner or later geopolitical challenges,” Tavares claimed. “We may perhaps not like the way those people uncooked elements are heading to be sourced in a number of several years”.

He claimed automakers ended up concentrating on technological know-how and ended up prepared to “pour” battery electrical autos on the industry, when they and regulators have been lacking eyesight on all prolonged term implications of the mobility changeover.

“What is up coming? Wherever is the clear strength? Exactly where is the charging infrastructure? Where are the raw products? The place are the geopolitical challenges of sourcing those people raw products? Who is looking at the whole photo of this transformation?” Tavares explained.

Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, Editing by Louise Heavens

Our Benchmarks: The Thomson Reuters Believe in Ideas.