Le lithium est indispensable à la fabrication des voitures électriques aujourd'hui, à tel point qu'il est surnommé le nouvel or blanc. Sa demande mondiale pourrait largement dépasser la production en 2030, malgré les multiples annonces de nouveaux projets d'extraction. Dans ce contexte, de plus en plus de pays, notamment en Europe, cherchent à en produire sur leur sol. Alors qu'est-ce que le lithium et pourquoi est-il si recherché ? #lithium#lithiumbattery#electrical 🔔 Abonnez-vous à notre chaîne : https://rfi.my/YTfr 🔴 Suivez RFI en DIRECT vidéo ici : https://rfi.my/YTliveFR 🌍 L’actualité du monde et de l’Afrique en direct : https://www.rfi.fr/fr/ Rejoignez-nous sur Facebook : https://rfi.my/FBfr Suivez-nous sur X (Twitter) : https://rfi.my/Xfr Découvrez l’actu en images sur Instagram : https://rfi.my/IGfr Recevez les dernières infos sur Telegram : https://rfi.my/TGfr
Lithium is essential for the manufacture of electric cars today.
And its demand could be multiplied by 25 by 2050.
So what is lithium?
It's a white metal, very light, very conductive,
that is to say that it transmits electricity well.
And in addition to the batteries of electric cars,
it is also used in the batteries of smartphones,
laptops, etc.
Only a few countries control the bulk of the production today.
Almost half of the lithium extracted in the world
comes from rock mines in Australia.
And a third of the production comes from Chile.
In this case, it is extracted from the salt lake of the Atacama Desert,
on the high plateaus of the Andes Cordillera.
But after extracting the lithium, it must be transformed,
refined before being able to use it in electric batteries.
And there, it is China that refines
almost 60% of the lithium produced each year.
In short, three countries are essential
when it comes to lithium.
And according to the International Energy Agency,
the existing mines and the projects already announced
would not be enough to meet the expected demand in 2030.
Faced with this, the United States, or even Europe,
is afraid of lacking lithium.
The war in Ukraine has highlighted
the very important dependence of the European continent
on Russian gas.
The European Union therefore seeks to depend less on the outside
also for lithium.
All the more so as the sale of new thermal cars,
new petrol cars, will be prohibited
from 2035 in the member states.
The European Commission therefore launched a legislation
on critical raw materials last year,
i.e. the raw materials essential
for the manufacture of batteries, wind turbines,
or solar panels,
and for which there could be shortages in the future.
The European Union has set itself the goal
of extracting, in 2030, on its soil,
10% of the critical raw materials it uses,
including lithium.
In this context, the announcements of mining projects are multiplying,
including in countries where so far
it has not been considered profitable.
In Portugal, in Spain, in France, in Finland,
or even in the United Kingdom,
projects that worry some fishermen
because of the consequences of mining activity on the environment
In Serbia, tens of thousands of people
took to the streets to protest
against the construction of a large lithium mine.
Faced with this mobilization,
the project was abandoned last year.
