🌱 What raw materials are needed to produce vehicles?
The European Commission lists vehicle production as “one of the most resource-intensive industries”. In the EU, the automotive industry is the largest “consumer of aluminium (42%), magnesium (44%), platinum group metals (63%), natural rubber (67%) and rare earth elements (30% in 2025, and growing exponentially)”.
🌱 Do EU and UK carmakers have the raw materials they need?
Both the EU and UK have placed a ban on the sale of new fossil fuel cars as of 2035. Yet, according to a recent study from the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), manufacturers are yet to secure the raw materials needed to produce the new higher volume of EVs. According to the study, EU and UK “carmakers have secured less than a sixth of the key raw materials they will need by 2030 to make electric vehicle batteries”. T&E’s analysis of all publicly disclosed agreements from EU and UK carmakers suggests that these “cover only 14% of the lithium, 17% of the nickel and 10% of the cobalt needed to meet their [EV sales] targets for 2030”. In other words, there is a large discrepancy “between carmakers’ electric vehicle goals and their critical mineral strategies”. Notably, T&E’s research also showed that “[t]he world’s two biggest electric carmakers, Tesla in the US and China’s BYD, were significantly further ahead […] in securing access to key raw materials”.
🌱 How many used vehicles are exported from the EU?
According to the European Commission, “[v]ehicles at the end of their life are [currently] not being handled in an optimal way, resulting in loss of resources and pollution”. While the export of end-of-life vehicles is already banned in the EU, more than 800 000 used vehicles are still being exported out of the EU annually. These are shipped predominantly to Africa and cause damage there. Notably, a lot of the exported used vehicles “are highly polluting and dangerous (causing traffic deaths) given their age”.
🌱 What does the EU’s new end-of-life vehicles regulation entail?
In light of the increased demand for raw materials for EVs and the ongoing export of used vehicles, the European Commission has set out a proposal for a new and stronger regulation on end-of-life vehicles. The proposed regulation contains “[n]ew rules for the design and end-of-life management of vehicles”. Through these rules, the EU “aim[s] to protect the environment, decarbonise production and reduce raw material dependencies”. The regulation also entails new measures to increase traceability and “ensure that only high-quality, technically fit European vehicles will be exported to consumers in 3rd countries”.
Read more about vehicle raw materials and exports here:
- https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling/waste-law_en
- https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5e7b0124-487b-4082-8e66-9a76f33f8e2e