EICN Kuala Lumpur: How the electric vehicle ecosystem will change supply chains in ASEAN

Expanding the battery supply chain to match the enormous global demand for electric vehicles represents one of the greatest industrial challenges ever attempted.

Global sales of electric cars quintupled between 2019 and 2022, surpassing 10m units last year. Yet the speed of the transformation is running into supply constraints and geopolitical headwinds. The supply of the minerals required to make lithium-ion batteries must grow by a third every year this decade to meet the estimated global demand. Tens of millions of batteries will be needed in America alone to meet its ambition to ensure half of all American vehicle sales involve electric vehicles by 2030. China is by far the biggest processor of battery metals, producer of battery cells and manufacturer of finished batteries.

Even where production is done overseas, Chinese firms dominate the process. American policymakers see that as a threat to the resilience of America’s supply chains, making it an industrial battlefield. The outcome will be determined in Asia, where most battery supply chains are based. We will discuss:

– Where are the battery supply chains based?
– Where are manufacturing opportunities growing?
– Are green industrial policies and security policies clashing?
– How will countries in the Asia-Pacific benefit?