The European Union is starting to act like China when it comes to building the batteries that will drive the next generation of cars and trucks. In the past few months, government officials led by European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic have joined with manufacturers, development banks and commercial lenders on measures that will channel more than 100 billion euros
Industry and commodities experts fear that the growth in electric vehicles (EVs) could be much slower than predicted due to bottlenecks in global battery market supply chains. “People seem to think that the switch from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles just means you plug your car in rather than fill it with petrol,” a battery industry source explains.