Demand for key minerals to soar with growth of Electric Vehicles

SEOUL — South Korea’s demand for key minerals is expected to see 19-fold jump from 2021 to 2040 due to expansion in the electric car and wind power industries, a report showed on Sunday.

The demand for lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt, essential for electric car batteries, will be up by 15-fold, 12-fold, 19-fold and 4-fold, respectively, by 2040 compared with the corresponding tally in 2021, according to the report from the Korea Energy Economics Institute (KEEI), reports Yonhap news agency.

The demand for neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, needed for electric car motors, will all increase by 10-fold as sales of electric cars in South Korea are expected to increase by 11 times over the same period.

The report also showed new installments of wind power facilities will likely rise by eight times by 2040 from 2022, pushing up the demand for related materials, such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, by 2.6 times, 3.1 times, 21.6 times and 2.7 times, respectively.

The KEEI said South Korea should work to diversify its key mineral supply chain to lower its dependence on China as part of efforts to strengthen its competitiveness in the electric vehicle and secondary battery industries.

As of 2022, South Korea had imported most nickel, manganese and cobalt supplies from China, according to the KEEI.