Impact on the demand for elements used in battery manufacturing associated with increased fleet of electric and hybrid vehicles

After a few decades forgotten, electric cars are returning to international prominence and becoming a supposed symbol of sustainability. Some countries have announced plans to ban vehicles that use an internal combustion engine and are now promoting incentives for the consumption of hybrids and electric ones. Although the media advertises these models as “zero-emission” or "green" vehicles as a reference for solving environmental problems, some important issues go unnoticed. Thus, this work aims to make an assessment on the feasibility of massive fleet electrification and address the future demands of metals used in batteries, as well as their environmental impacts. For this purpose, battery technologies with applications in the electric car market were identified and the total volume of most critical metals for a lithium-ion battery production chain was estimated. It is expected that approximately 90% of batteries in 2030 will be NMC (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) type, with a tendency to lower cobalt levels due to ethical and commercial issues for their production. Electric cars are not yet sustainable, so before the mass adoption, there is a need to find ways to recycle batteries, and the power grid needs to shift to cleaner sources of power generation.