[ACCI-CAVIE] The transition to electric mobility is well underway. 2021 saw plug-in vehicles achieving record market shares in major markets. The Tesla Model 3 was the 2nd best-selling car (of any kind) in the UK in 2021. 190,727 battery-electric EVs were sold in 2021 in the UK (11.6% of the total market). The first information obtained by the African Centre for Competitive Intelligence analysts obliges to put this file under monitoring 24/7.

More battery-electric EVs were registered in the UK than in the previous 5 years combined! In France, plug-in vehicle shares for 2021 was 18.3% (9.8% battery-electric vehicles). In Germany, 26% of new vehicle sales were for plugin vehicles in 2021. In China, electric vehicle sales growth is sparking big change. Strong sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars accounted for 15% of overall passenger-car sales in 2021.

In 2022, there will be more electric vehicle models on the market than ever before, giving consumers more options to choose from. Sales for this year should set more records. As demand for EVs continues to soar, there will be an urgent need for players across the entire value chain to scale up. One of the most important areas is the traction battery industry. This means there will be an ever growing demand for the all-important battery materials and minerals.

Elon Musk highlighted the importance of one of these important resources, nickel, when he said “I’d just like to re-emphasize, any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel,” during a Tesla quarterly conference call. “Wherever you are in the world, please mine more nickel and … go for efficiency, obviously environmentally-friendly nickel mining at high volume. Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time, if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.”

BHP, the Australia-headquartered multinational firm, is one of the companies heeding the call to accelerate the mining of nickel and extending its reach by making an initial $50 million investment in Kabanga Nickel (northwestern Tanzania) and Lifezone, with further investments to be agreed.

By Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai