Measuring Gaps in Supply and Demand for EV Battery Materials in the United States

As demand for electric vehicles (EVs) grows, so too does demand for the batteries that power them. RMI estimates that by 2030, EVs will represent 56 percent of passenger vehicles in the United States. This surge in demand will require nearly 5 million tons of battery packs containing approximately 200,000 tons of lithium and 100,000 tons of cobalt, as well as many other materials that have not historically been produced in such large quantities. RMI’s paper, Measuring Gaps in Supply and Demand for EV Battery Materials in the United States, helps shed light on the state of today’s EVB supply chain and can inform investment and policy decisions; it can also clarify how much of the battery supply is expected to qualify for IRA incentives in the future by presenting a methodology for quantifying the gap between supply and demand of inputs and subcomponents along all major stages of the EVB supply chain.