President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to make half of all new vehicles sales in the US by 2030 to be zero emissions vehicles. This will mean that lithium demand in the US is set to rise as the US tries to catch Europe and China which represent two of the world’s biggest electric vehicle markets. According to data from EV-Volumes, in the first half of 2021, there were 1.14 million electric vehicles sold in China while 1.06 million electric vehicles were sold in Europe during the same period. Despite the US leading the way in electric vehicle technology, the US market share of electric vehicles sales is one-third of that of the electric vehicle sales in China. The demand for electric vehicles is set to increase the demand for lithium. In 2020, the world mined approximately 400,000 tonnes of lithium, this is enough to manufacture 2 million to 3 million electric vehicles. However, only one-third of lithium mined is destined to be used for electric vehicles. If the US starts producing 8 million electric vehicles and the rest of world produces a similar amount, this will require the world to mine 5 million tonnes of lithium per year. This demand for lithium has led to significant increases in the price of lithium with Credit Suisse saying that it expects the demand for lithium to triple from the demand levels in 2020 to 2025, which will require a 50% increase of supply.

Source: https://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/959978/the-us-has-decided-to-catch-up-to-china-and-europe-on-electric-vehicles—heres-what-that-means-for-lithium-959978.html