April 1, 2022
“Although the price of nickel has since fallen again, commodities analysts expect it to be around $34,000 by mid-year.”
“Nickel shortages from Russia would push up electric vehicle (EV) prices, slowing Western economies' progress in reducing carbon emissions, warns the London-based consultancy GlobalData.
The reasoning makes sense: The slower electromobility takes to get going, the longer we will be dependent on Russian oil and gas.”
“Electric car and battery manufacturers in China, on the other hand, could benefit from the sanctions against Russia by offering to buy raw materials from Russia at lower prices.
‘China already has a strong position in the battery metals supply chain and would further strengthen its global competitive position if it could buy Russian nickel cheaply because of the sanctions,’ Clarke said.
GlobalData analyst Lil Read added that the only option left for Western manufacturers is to expand business relationships with other nickel-producing countries such as Indonesia or the Philippines.
However, this would give rise to further problems. Because of the greater geographical distance between the two production countries, emissions during transport would increase, and if the raw materials were extracted more intensively there, environmental issues would increase.
In addition, Europe's dependency on China would increase as Chinese companies played a key role in the main nickel mines in both countries.”
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-war-german-auto-industry-alarmed-over-lack-of-raw-materials/a-61327012