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You may be stuck paying high gas prices for years as a global metals shortage sabotages the electric car revolution

'Metals are quickly becoming the new oil as fossil fuels are phased out and replaced with clean energy and electric cars."

"The green energy transition relies on mining to produce enough lithium, cobalt, and nickel for  the expected boom in solar panels, wind turbines, and electric car batteries over the next decade."

"The only problem is that most of those metals are already in short supply. Paltry investments by governments in mining, the complexity of recycling rare metals, and geopolitical trade squabbles are already hampering metal production."

"...Developing mining projects takes time, and there is a real risk we’re not starting early enough.”

"The booming interest in electric vehicles over the next decade will see demand for lithium—a crucial metal in EV battery manufacturing—increase 40 times, according to a report last year from The International Energy Agency, a global energy watchdog. Demand for other metals used in batteries and solar panels, like graphite, cobalt, and nickel, is expected to multiply 20 to 25 times current levels."

"And as many as nine metals and rare earth elements critical to manufacturing LED lights are byproducts of aluminum, copper, zinc, and lead production."

"Unless more investment is redirected towards these processes, the production of byproduct metals will fail to keep up with rising demand."

“That investment in the downstream is not being matched by investment in the upstream,” Schloustcher said. “There's a very precarious supply-demand imbalance for the critical minerals that are the inputs that enable these technologies.”

"China controls 80% of the global rare earth metal refining industry. While the U.S. has ramped up its own domestic production targets, China’s dominance means that the West risks being cut out of the supply chain entirely."

"Last year, China tightened regulations on rare earth exports to the U.S., and implemented laws that gave Beijing more control over global supply chains. In 2019, the U.S. received 80% of its rare earth minerals from China, while Europe depended on China for 98% of its supply."

“A great many factors influence the potential for shortages,” a U.S. Geological Survey spokesperson told Fortune. “International trade tensions and conflict are well-known reasons, but there are many other possibilities. Disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and even domestic civil strife can affect a country’s mineral industry and its ability to export mineral commodities to the U.S.”