Recognizing the skyrocketing demand for minerals and metals critical to electric vehicles, renewable energy, and the American economy as a whole, the U.S. Department of Energy has reached out to the public to develop and implement a $675 million Critical Materials Program.
This program, funded by the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Act, is being created to address vulnerabilities in the U.S. domestic critical materials supply chain that are both an economic handicap and an impediment to the clean energy transition.
Critical materials such as cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements are essential for the production of many clean energy technologies, including batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.
The US Department of Energy says global demand for these materials, which are critical to low-carbon energy and other technologies, is expected to grow by 400% to 600% in the coming decades. For certain materials, such as lithium and graphite, needed for the batteries powering the electric vehicle revolution, the Department of Energy predicts demand will increase by as much as 4,000%.
The annual demand for most of the critical minerals and metals required for electric vehicles and clean energy technologies is expected to be several times higher over the next two decades than the production of all currently operating mines worldwide.
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