Characterizing the Changes in Material Use due to Vehicle Electrification

Alloy Profusion, Spice Metals, and Resource Loss by Design

One of the most unfortunate attributes of technology’s routine and widespread use of most of the elements in the periodic table is the abysmal functional recycling rates that result from the complexity of modern technology and the rudimentary technological state of the recycling industry. In this work, we demonstrate that the vast profusion of alloys, and the complexities and miniaturization of modern electronics, render functional recycling almost impossible. This situation is particularly true of “spice metals”: metals employed at very low concentrations to realize modest performance improvements in advanced alloys or complex electronics such as smartphones or laptops. Here, we present a formal definition of spice metals and explore the significant challenges that product design decisions impose on the recycling industry. We thereby identify nine spice metals: scandium (Sc), vanadium (V), gallium (Ga), arsenic (As), niobium (Nb), antimony (Sb), tellurium (Te), erbium (Er), and hafnium (Hf). These metals are considered fundamental for the properties they provide, yet they are rarely recycled. Their routine use poses severe problems for the implementation of closed material loops and the circular economy. Based on the data and discussions in this paper, we recommend that spice metals be employed only where their use will result in a highly significant improvement, and that product designers place a strong emphasis on enabling the functional recycling of these metals after their first use.

Modeling potential impact of COVID-19 pandemic on global electric vehicle supply chain

The on-going COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns cast significant impacts on global economy in the short run. Their impact on stability of global electric vehicles (EVs) supply chain and thus our climate ambition in the long run, however, remains hitherto largely unexplored. We aim to address this gap based on an integrated model framework, including assessing supply risks of 17 selected core commodities throughout the EV supply chain and further applying the supply constraints to project future EV sales until 2030. Our model results under three pandemic development scenarios indicate that if the pandemic is effectively contained before 2024, the global EV industry will recover without fundamentally scathed and thus can maintain the same growth trend as in the no-pandemic scenario by 2030. We suggest that fiscal stimulus in the postpandemic era should be directed more toward upgrading the quality of battery products, rather than expanding the production capacity.

•

Lithium is the most critical commodity for the electric vehicle industry

•

Short-term COVID-19 pandemic will not cause constraints on the production side

•

Long-term pandemic can seriously jeopardize electric vehicle market development

•

Postpandemic policies should focus more on improving battery quality

Assessing the role of vanadium technologies in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors and enabling the energy transition

The decarbonization of heavy industry and the emergence of renewable energy technologies are inextricably linked to access to mineral resources. As such, there is an urgent need to develop benchmarked assessments of the role of critical elements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we explore the role of vanadium in decarbonizing construction by serving as a microalloying element and enabling the energy transition as the primary component of flow batteries used for grid-level storage. We estimate that vanadium has enabled an avoided environmental burden totaling 185 million metric tons of CO₂ on an annual basis. A granular analysis estimates savings for China and the European Union at 1.15% and 0.18% of their respective emissions, respectively. Our results highlight the role of critical metals in developing low-carbon infrastructure while underscoring the need for holistic assessments to inform policy interventions that mitigate supply chain risks.

•

Enabling the energy transition and deep decarbonization hinges on strategic minerals

•

The versatility of vanadium chemistries enables technologies that lower CO₂ emissions

•

In structural applications, vanadium enables a greater economy of materials use

•

Vanadium redox flow batteries balance the intermittency of wind and solar power