Europe’s Carmakers Face Raw Material Bottleneck for EV Batteries

Europe’s Carmakers Face Raw Material Bottleneck for EV Batteries
Employees of German carmaker Volkswagen work in a production line of VW's new battery plant in Salzgitter, Germany, on Sept. 23, 2019. Fabian Bimmer/Reuters
|Updated:

FRANKFURT—Major carmakers like Volkswagen, Daimler, and Stellantis have been racing to secure battery cell supplies in Europe, but may face a bigger challenge as they seek to go electric—finding enough battery raw materials.

Failure to obtain adequate supplies of lithium, nickel, manganese or cobalt could slow the shift to electric vehicles (EVs), make those vehicles more expensive, and threaten carmakers’ profit margins.