Minerals if all vehicles were electric (NMC lithium-ion)

If all vehicles in the world were electric, with lithium-ion batteries(...)( NMC-type, which is currently the most popular kind of lithium-ion ), how much of various minerals would it take to make all the batteries?

• This many minerals would hopefully only have to be mined once, if the batteries can be recycled perfectly later. If not, we'd need to mine even more minerals than the estimates below.

Quick estimate

ev.nickel

28.9 kg

ev.cobalt

7.7 kg

ev.lithium

5.9 kg

world.cars

1.475 billion

commercial_factor

2

Included here, for lack of better data, because not all vehicles are cars; there are also small trucks and large semi trucks, which would need far more battery per vehicle.

Leave a comment on the talk page if you know of more precise data on the total number of commercial vehicles in the world, by type.

cobalt.reserves

11 million tonnes

World total

cobalt.resources

25 million tonnes

World total

lithium.reserves

28 million tonnes

World total

lithium.resources

105 million tonnes

World total

manganese.reserves

1900 million tonnes

World total

nickel.reserves

130 million tonnes

World total

nickel.resources

350 million tonnes

World total

ev.nickel * world.cars * commercial_factor % nickel.reserves (calculation loading)

ev.cobalt * world.cars * commercial_factor % cobalt.reserves (calculation loading)

ev.lithium * world.cars * commercial_factor % lithium.reserves (calculation loading)

TODO: elaborate on the meaning of this calculation
TODO: also compare this to the status quo mining/production rate of each mineral

Data sources usedData sources used

Data source for mineral reserves/resources:

• United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024 (https://doi.org/10.3133/mcs2024)
  • Even though the publication is U.S.-based, it provides data regarding the entire world's minerals.

Data source for EV battery minerals:

• Oct 9, 2023, Weight of metal in lithium-ion batteries 2020 - Statista
  • "In 2020, an average lithium-ion battery contained around 28.9 kilograms of nickel, 7.7 kilogram of cobalt, and 5.9 kilogram of lithium. [...] Based on the average battery composition in 2020 with 60 kWh capacity."
• Also note that 60 kWh is considered very typical for the battery capacity of an electric car: https://ev-database.org/cheatsheet/useable-battery-capacity-electric-car

Data source for how many cars in the world:

• https://hedgescompany.com/blog/2021/06/how-many-cars-are-there-in-the-world/
  • Last updated in 2024

See also

• Minerals if all vehicles were electric (LFP batteries)