| Abstract |
A conventional passenger car demands almost 50 different types of metals, along other raw materials. Some of these metals, such as tantalum, indium, niobium or rare earths elements, are considered critical by the European Commission and many other institutions. Additionally, their functional recycling is practically absent. The transition to fully electric vehicles will require more electrical and electronic devices, motors and batteries, that will need an increasing amount of critical metals. A methodology has been developed to identify strategic elements for the automobile sector. This approach defines a variable called Strategic Metal Index (SMI) which is calculated for each metal. This index is the result of combining the following parameters: (1) Automobile sector demand with respect to world production; (2) known resources compared to total cumulative demand and (3) Supply risk. The index has been applied to 50 metals used by different types of vehicle powertrains. The assessment covers metal demand from 2018 to 2050 according to vehicle sales projections. Using this approach, the most strategic elements for the automobile manufacturing sector are Ni, Li and Co (used in batteries), Nd and Dy (permanent magnets), Tb (lighting and fuel injectors), Sb, Bi and and B (steel alloys, paintings), Au and Ag (electronics), In (screens) and Te (steel alloys, electronics). The search for substitutes, implementation of eco-design measures and the increase of the functional recyclability of these elements should be strongly encouraged in the sector. |
