Dependency on foreign sources of materials
Conventional Cars (CC) are built from various materials with well-established supply chains, but the Green-House-Gas (GHG) emissions are too high to meet the requirement for low impact on the climate. E-fuels can reduce the emissions significantly when compared to conventional gasoline or diesel fuels, but they are expensive to produce.
Eletric cars (BEV, FCEV) rely heavily on foreign sources of material (Cobalt, Lithium, Nickel) for producing batteries, motors and circuitry.
Hydraulic Hybrids use only about one third of the material in weight, and the Carbon fiber (CFRP) does not depend on foreign sources.
BEV's and FCV´s reduce the Well-To-Wheel (WTW) GHG emissions significantly in long terms but require more conventional material and more critical imported materials. This increases the dependency on foreign countries, the socio-economic tension, and costs. The contractual agreements for the supply of critical materials will very likely not survive under tense political conditions.
The Hydraulic Hybrid is built with a fraction (40%) of conventional material of an CC (- 940 kg / 2,070 lbs.) or BEV (- 1.180 kg / 2,600 lbs.) but requires additional CFRP (+ 115 kg / 253 lbs.) for the accumulator assembly. CFRP production is energy intensive (14x as steel), but its specific weight is only 1/4 and does not rely on critical, imported materials.
The costly, additional materials needed for the batteries of BEV's and FEV's increase the dependency on foreign countries. The data listed in the tables below are for mine production (ore availability), not refining. In refining and selling Cobalt for batteries, China has a market share of 70%, and dominated the general market for Rare Earth Elements (REE) with 58% in 2020. [11]
The GHG emissions will increase noticeably due to the construction for additional mining and refining capacity and the production of batteries. Therefore, the GHG emissions (WTT) will over a long period of time (2035 +) strongly increase before the benefits of their low operational emissions (TTW) become the dominant factor for reducing the overall GHG emissions (WTW).
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Rare earth materials for electric motors not included.
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BGR, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, https://www.bgr.bund.de
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Kritische mineralische Rohstoffe und die neue Geopolitik. Sophia Kalantzakos. https://www.fuw.ch sophia.kalantzakos@nyu.edu,
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Conventional Car, medium size, 1,360 kg.
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Battery-Electric-Vehicle, medium size, 1,870 kg, weights electric drivetrain, Battery 76 kWh, Union of Concerned Scientists, Fact Sheet, Electric Vehicle Batteries.
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Hydraulic Hybrid, medium size, 533 kg, weight accumulator and platform structure, Ingocar, LLC.
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Iron/Steel $1/kg (base)
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Bauxite (raw material)
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Deutsches Kupfer Institut (German-Copper-Institute)
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CC typical material-mix includes Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Nickel, Rubber, etc.
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Carbon Credit.com