Thread by @s_windberger

Electric cars 🚙 need cobalt.
Smartphones 📱 need cobalt.
China 🇨🇳 controls #cobalt.

Every additional #Tesla and new #iPhone fuels the managed decline of the West, while China‘s #Africa strategy is winning the 21st century.

A thread about how 🇪🇺🇺🇸 lose control of our future: /1 t.co/NNG1a9oNQa

More than two thirds of the world’s cobalt production comes from the Democratic Republic of the #Congo (DRC).

8 of the DRC’s 14 largest cobalt mining companies are owned by China, accounting for:

~50% of the country‘s output, or >30% of the world‘s cobalt production

/2

Chinese companies keep buying mines. Don’t be surprised if 8 out of 14 becomes 12 out of 14 soon.

Even stronger is the Chinese grip on cobalt chemicals, which are necessary for electric car batteries.

More than 80% of all cobalt chemicals in the 🌎 are produced by China.

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A lot of companies producing electric cars have realised this & now want to reduce or eliminate cobalt in their batteries. @elonmusk wants to cut out #cobalt entirely for @Tesla.

theverge.com/2018/6/21/1748…
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The problem is that reducing the amount of cobalt in batteries also reduces their lifespan (as cobalt is the safe element in the cathode) and increases safety risks (as more nickel needs to be used, which can lead to combustion b/c the cells cannot cool themselves & overheat)

/5

@panasonic, the exclusive supplier of new batteries for Tesla, promised a cobalt-free battery & announced that they would need 3x as much cobalt as before for the next 5 years instead.

In fact, even new low-cobalt batteries are tested in...China

mobile-reuters-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/mobile.reu…
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All in all, cobalt will be needed for the foreseeable future. Cobalt-free batteries are years, more likely decades away. Even for low-cobalt batteries (8 parts nickel, 1 each cobalt & manganese), no one has managed to make them work yet.

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What is fascinating here is that no one, literally no one, cares about this in #Europe. Large scale failure on both the political & economic side. It’s really a shame.

The EU strategy is: ignore + promote trade agreements w/ Australia & Canada 🤦‍♂️ ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/co…

/finis