"We want to make it accessible to everyone."
On the occasion of the opening of the Paris Motor Show, Emmanuel Macron announced Monday, October 17 a series of measures to promote the purchase of electric vehicles.
The objective: to move gradually towards the end of the thermal car, which the European Union hopes to ban from sale from 2035. If this prospect is perceived as an essential step on the road to energy transition, it also poses a serious problem: it will be necessary to have recourse to huge quantities of metals essential to the manufacture of batteries, in particular lithium.
The numbers speak for themselves.
According to the International Energy Agency, since 2015 the production volumes of "white gold" have already tripled worldwide, reaching 100,000 tonnes per year in 2021. They could still be multiplied by seven d 'by 2030. At European level, around 35 times more lithium will be needed in 2050 than today, according to a study published on April 25 by the University of Louvain, Belgium.
“We are in a context where all countries are starting their energy transition more or less at the same time and this generates very significant metal needs”, notes Olivier Vidal, geologist and director of research at the CNRS.
"This will certainly create tensions in the coming years, with cost increases to be expected and, possibly, supply difficulties. There is therefore a real strategic and sovereignty issue for the States."
As proof of this concern, the European Commission has included lithium in the list of critical raw materials from 2020, that is to say which present a risk of shortage.
Lithium "will soon be even more important than oil and gas", affirmed, for her part, in September 2022 the President of the European Commission,
Emerging extraction projects
Especially since today lithium production is dominated by only a handful of countries: Australia, which has 20% of the world's "white gold" reserves, and Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, which concentrate 60%.
China, for its part, bet on refining very early on and has 17% of lithium production.
A situation of virtual monopoly, notes the International Energy Agency, which considers that these five countries alone control 90% of world production.
So, faced with this announced rush for "white gold", Europe hopes to get out of the game by exploiting its own subsoil.
Its main reserves are in Portugal, Germany, Austria and Finland.
In France, the French Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM) drew up an inventory in 2018 highlighting reserves in Alsace, in the Massif Central as well as in the Armorican Massif, in Brittany.
On the initiative, very often, of small companies, several projects have emerged in recent years to exploit these European lithium sources.
"The most successful is in Finland. Lithium production could start in 2024 thanks to the exploitation of a small mining site located about 600 km north of Helsinki", explains Christian Hocquard, geologist-economist and co- author of the book "Objectif lithium, making the energy transition a success".
"In the Czech Republic, an Australian company, European Metals, wants to exploit former tin mines located north of Prague. Same projects in Germany and Austria."
Lithium mining projects in the European Union.
© FMM Graphic Studio
Reluctance of the population
"These are generally minor projects, carried out by small companies. The large ones prefer to invest in Australia or Latin America", summarizes the geologist.
“Few of them will see the light of day, blocked by the difficulties in obtaining permits but above all because of the reluctance of the population,” he predicts.
Mining projects are indeed often faced with the discontent of the local population.
In Portugal, an open pit mine – the largest in Western Europe – was due to open in 2026 in the village of Covas de Barroso.
The works are, for the moment, suspended, after numerous demonstrations.
In Serbia, the opening of the Jedar mine was canceled a few months before the presidential election in January 2022. In France, Barbara Pompili, then Minister for Ecological Transition, had mentioned in February 2021 the idea of exploiting a source of lithium in the small village of Tréguennec, in Finistère, yet classified as a protected area.
Again, the announcement caused an outcry.
"This produces considerable volumes of waste which must then be stored", specifies Olivier Vidal to explain these outcry.
"Not to mention that this waste risks, for example, water or air pollution."
If the geologist considers that this anger is "completely understandable", he shows himself to be rather favorable to these projects.
"It would be much more ethical. We consume lithium daily, it would be normal to suffer the impacts of its use ourselves," he says.
"Today, this pollution already exists, but in other countries, far from our gaze. This would raise awareness among users, who would be confronted with the impacts of their consumption."
"Green lithium", refineries... alternatives?
France, for its part, is studying an alternative: the extraction of "green lithium".
Unlike extractions from rocks or salars, which generally operate like traditional mines, this "green lithium" is produced from geothermal sources, with an extraction mode that is similar to a well.
In Alsace, the European project EuGeLi (for European Geothermal Lithium) is a pioneer in this area.
He recently succeeded in extracting his first kilograms of lithium using this technique.
"For the moment, however, the technique remains too expensive to be considered at an industrial level", notes Christian Hocquard.
The other alternative is to bet on the refining of lithium rather than on its exploitation.
A project was announced in Germany at the beginning of June.
The company Viridian plans to open the first French lithium battery factory there by the end of 2025. It will source its minerals from Latin America and wants to produce 100,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide by 2030. "This would not solve the question of dependency, but would create know-how and jobs", notes Olivier Vidal.
And from an ecological point of view, this would also have a major advantage.
Currently, lithium almost systematically transits through China to be refined.
In the coming months, the European Union plans to open three "gigafactories" for battery production, refining lithium on the territory would save thousands of kilometers.
Focus on battery recycling
"But anyway, even if all these projects materialize, they could not compete with the salars of Latin America or the Australian production", estimates Olivier Vidal.
"On the other hand, where the European Union could really do well in the coming years is in battery recycling."
“Currently, the quantities of metals to be recycled are still limited since lithium batteries did not exist ten years ago. But in 2035, we will have end-of-life batteries for electric vehicles and therefore a stock that can be recycled. “, he specifies.
According to the University of Louvain, 40% to 75% of the EU's metal needs could thus be met through recycling in 2050. Enough to guarantee security of supply, but also to considerably reduce the environmental impact.
"But for that, we must act now," insists Olivier Vidal.
"We must design products that will be easily recyclable, at lower cost, to reassure investors."
"And beyond all these questions, it is indeed a reflection on our uses that we must have. Lithium is certainly used in car batteries, but also in many everyday gadgets. One of the levers is also to learn to move towards more material sobriety", he concludes.
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