The geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan has ruled out the possibility that electric vehicles (EV) will become widespread in the next 10 years due to the limitations in materials and the unresolved problems of the supply chain.

"Lithium comes from one place and everything is processed in China. So, just building the alternative processing infrastructure... and, by the way, we also have to invade Russia... just to get the materials to make electric vehicles on a scale that is ridiculous for the next decade. We need a new series of technological advances in materials science before that is possible," said Zeihan on September 8 at the 54th Annual ECC Perspective Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

In a publication on his personal website, Zeihan points out that electrifying "everything" will require more copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, zinc, chromium, graphite, silicon, rare earths and other materials. A single electric car needs 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of these materials, while a conventional car only requires less than 50 kilograms (110 pounds).

Moving away from oil implies moving away from complex supply and transport systems, often violent and always critical, "just to replace it with at least 10 more", he said.

United States against countries

The United States will not only have to deal with Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also with countries such as Chile, Bolivia, South Africa, Peru, Mexico, Germany, Indonesia and China, where the necessary materials for electric vehicles are concentrated. .

In May, Carlos Tavares, executive director of the car manufacturing company Stellantis, warned that the world could experience a shortage of batteries for electric vehicles by 2024-25, and then a shortage of materials to produce electric vehicles. This will slow the adoption of electric vehicles by 2027-28, he said, according to CNBC.