Drive to dump cobalt from EVs

Carmakers are increasingly looking to develop electric vehicle (EV) batteries that don’t rely on cobalt amid human rights concerns over the way the rare earth mineral is mined.

Batteries used in EVs became the number one global use for cobalt last year and Michael Wood, Minister of Transport, is among those keeping an eye on developments.

It comes as the New Zealand government is seeking a greater uptake of EVs but it is also mindful of reports of poor labour conditions in many of the mines where cobalt is sourced.

Justin Hodgkiss, MacDiarmid Institute co-director and Victoria University of Wellington physical chemistry professor, says global efforts to move away from the mineral were happening quicker than expected. 

Half of the cars Tesla has built this year have used cobalt-free batteries, he told Newsroom. Nissan has also pledged to use cobalt-free batteries by the middle of this decade and most other EV carmarkers have indicated they will soon be seeking a similar goal.

“Cobalt is already the most expensive part of the battery and the prices and availability and supply chains are wildly unpredictable,” adds Hodgkiss. 

“When you're manufacturing hundreds of thousands of cars a year there's every incentive to get rid of cobalt.” 

Wood raised labour standards in “exploratory” discussions with his European counterparts when he attended the International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition in Norway this year. 

A briefing paper prepared for him by government officials noted more than 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt is sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, “with poor working conditions associated particularly with artisanal and small-scale mining”.

“This problem is exacerbated by the increasing demand for cobalt connected with the increasing demand for EVs and other electronic goods, driven in part through government interventions,” the paper adds.