Strides are being made to bolster North America’s battery ecosystem, but fully onshoring cobalt — one of the rarer metals used in lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles — is likely to prove elusive, industry experts say.
EVs are in their infancy but they’re the largest consumer of cobalt, accounting for about 37 per cent of the market, she said, and they will drive cobalt demand higher as adoption accelerates. Consumer electronics are a close second in demand, while the metal is also a key ingredient in superalloys used in aerospace.With demand far outstripping local supply, a fully self-sustaining North American cobalt industry is “a big hill to climb,” said Trent Mell, CEO of Electra Battery Materials Corp.
“I think most of us, [automakers] included, acknowledge that the DRC is going to continue to play a pretty big role. Having said that, … there is a keen motivation that that’s not 100 per cent of our needs.” Despite the short-term challenges in developing new sources, Smith expects the recent trend toward localizing the battery supply chain to extend to cobalt.