An employee at Advanced Electric Machines works on test models of a motor for an electric vehicle that does not include either rare earth magnets or copper and uses electrical steel and aluminium instead. — Reuters
The increasing scrutiny of supply chains comes as the European Union, which announced draft laws last year to enforce net-zero emissions targets, considers charging for excess carbon on imports, as well as legislation requiring ethical sourcing and a recycling plan for EV batteries. "You won't be able to attract the investor interest because there's a lot of them and they're all trying to argue they're the best," he said.The demand is real, though, from carmakers who face a daunting task to navigate the challenges of making everything from steel to aluminium using cleaner processes, to finding less environmentally damaging battery chemistries.
The German carmaker has negotiated with all its battery suppliers and many of its steel and aluminium suppliers that their materials are made using renewable energy, Becker told a conference in London in March. Costa Caldis, chief operating officer of supply chain tracing company SAFE, said carmakers were moving in the right direction, but not fast enough.Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, CEO of Circulor, which maps supply chains for the likes of BMW and Volvo, said financing from investors was increasingly tied to ESG targets.
Peter Rolton, Britishvolt's executive chairman, said national governments would need alternatives to fuel taxes that raise vast sums, and taxing carbon would help to squeeze it out of supply chains.