There’s a big push to electrify our vehicle fleet. That’s going to require a lot of copper. The folks over at the IEF (International Energy Forum) took a look at this problem. Here’s what they came up with:

The researchers found that between 2018 and 2050, the world will need to mine 115% more copper than has been mined in all human history until 2018 just to meet “business as usual.” This would meet our current copper needs and support the developing world without considering the green energy transition. (from mining.com)

The IEF report went on to say:

To meet the copper needs of electrifying the global vehicle fleet, as many as six new large copper mines must be brought online annually over the next several decades. (from mining.com)

“Annually” means every year. Six new copper mines PER YEAR! Right now it takes about twenty years to bring a copper mine on-line.

The study suggests that hybrid vehicles are a better policy choice than EVs. Copper is too important elswhere:

The researcher (Adam Simon, co-author*) also points out that copper will be needed for developing countries to build infrastructure, such as building an electric grid for the approximately 1 billion people who don’t yet have access to electricity; to provide clean water drinking facilities for the approximately 2 billion people who don’t have access to clean water; and wastewater treatment for the 4 billion people who don’t have access to sanitation facilities.

That’s a lot of people who have very basic needs that we take for granted. Here’s a couple of graphs that illustrate the point:

Every choice is a trade-off. Electrifying our vehicle fleet AND raising the standard of living for hundreds of millions of people probably isn’t possible. My next car is going to be a hybrid.

*https://lsa.umich.edu/earth/people/faculty/simonac.html