The United Kingdom government announced new diesel and petrol vehicles will be banned within the UK from 2040 as a means of tackling air pollution. Electric cars are regarded as a cleaner alternative with roughly 266 million vehicles expected to be on the road by 2040 according to petroleum organisation OPEC. France also set 2040 as the year in which petrol and diesel cars will be completely banned. Despite these government announcements, how environmentally-friendly are electric cars, and are they a viable solution to combat global pollution?
Independent 8th Nov 2018 read more »
Cobalt is a niche commodity that seemed to have finally found its place in the batteries powering the electric car revolution. But, despite rising sales with the launch of mass market models, such as Tesla’s Model 3 and Audi’s e-Tron, the metal has been in the doldrums this year. Until this week, when Glencore, the leading producer was forced to stop selling cobalt out of its largest mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the discovery of radioactive uranium in the metal, an unfortunate twist for the Swiss-based trader that could give the wider market a recharge. Last year, cobalt prices almost doubled from a year earlier as carmakers scrambled to secure supplies of a metal with which they were not familiar – a race symbolised by Volkswagen’s summoning of producers to its Wolfsburg headquarters in an attempt to hash out a supply deal. This year, however, prices have fallen about 6 per cent, to $33.50 a pound, as Glencore and other large miners ramped up supply.