Major American Carmaker Isn't Hopeful About The EV Revolution

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares continues to raise concerns about the EV revolution. At the Financial Times' Future of the Car 2022 conference, he said that materials shortages, at least for Stellantis brands, are set to keep going. More than that, his outlook on the whole EV transition had a rather bleak spin on it. Tavares has beat this drum before, having previously said the cost of EV development was a huge problem.

Now, Tavares says that models like the Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe, as well as the brand's raft of upcoming EVs, will continue to be challenging to produce due to the materials shortages the industry is experiencing. That will, of course, become more acute as Stellantis transitions to a fully electric brand.

Tavares went on to say that the industry-wide shift to electric vehicles is only going to exacerbate the supply chain issues we see in the automotive market today, especially when it comes to batteries. Tavares predicts that by 2025-2026 demand for increasingly complex batteries will reach new heights as brands complete or begin their transition to electric vehicles. He's also previously added that these transitions must be carefully managed, lest EVs become bad for business as costs are transferred to consumers.

At the conference, Tavares stated that should batteries be plentiful, then much of the western world will become economically dependent on Asia, long seen as a go-to for precious raw materials used for new vehicle production.

"We may not like the way those raw materials are going to be sourced in a few years. What's next? Where is the clean energy? Where is the charging infrastructure? Where are the raw materials? Where are the geopolitical risks of sourcing those raw materials? Who is looking at the full picture of this transformation," asked Tavares?