The experts have also calculated that based on the latest battery technology (80 per cent nickel, 10 per cent cobalt, 10 per cent manganese), UK demand for EV batteries will require almost the total amount of neodymium produced globally each year, three quarter\u2019s of the world\u2019s lithium, and \u201cat least half\u201d of the world\u2019s copper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter, authored by a team of eight scientists headed by the Natural History Museum\u2019s head of earth sciences, professor Richard Herrington, explains that to replace the UK\u2019s cars with EVs will require 207,900 tonnes of cobalt, 264,600 tonnes of lithium carbonate and \u201cat least\u201d 7,200 tonnes of neodymium and dysprosium, as well as 2,362,500 tonnes of copper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Committee on Climate Change, an independent statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008, has previously called for all new cars and vans to be zero-emission by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scientists say that mining the battery materials necessary to replace the two billion cars in the world would require four times the UK\u2019s total annual electrical output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Estimates put the extra power required for all UK cars to be electric at 63 TWh a year, a 20 per cent increase over current generation levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor Herrington said: \u201cThe urgent need to cut CO2 emissions to secure the future of our planet is clear, but there are huge implications for our natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur role as scientists is to provide the evidence for how best to move towards a zero-carbon economy \u2013 society needs to understand that there is a raw material cost of going green.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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