The Japanese government has set a goal whereby every car sold in Japan will be an electric car or a hybrid vehicle by 2050.
An economy ministry panel set up to address the global shift to develop greener cars was held on Tuesday July 24. Along with government ministers, the panel included representatives from leading car manufacturers, Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co.
The members of the panel came to the agreement that public and private sectors must establish long-term goals to maintain the environmental performance of Japanese cars worldwide.
The Japanese car makers have come together with a plan to collaborate to secure reserves of cobalt, a raw mineral needed for manufacturing car batteries in electric cars.
public and private sectors must establish long-term goals to maintain the environmental performance of Japanese cars worldwide
Limited raw material reserves
There is a race between car makers worldwide to ensure they have a supply of the scare resource to be able to meet the electric car demand. However, with half of the world’s reserves of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo, procuring it from there poses significant political, operational and ethical risks.
The panel hopes to alleviate the risk to businesses regarding unstable cobalt stocks if they do decide to take a chance and invest in electric car technology. The government will try to secure supplies of the rare metal by signing long-term contracts with existing suppliers or by investing in new development projects.
Plans are also in place to offer subsidies to accelerate private-sector development of batteries and motors for electricity-powered vehicles.
Cautious about cobalt
Metal consultancy, Roskill, estimates that global demand for cobalt will rise to 310,000 tons by 2027. Of that, around 240,000 tons will be used in the manufacture of car batteries, laptops and mobile phones.
However, Japanese trading houses and mining companies are wary about investing heavily in cobalt. They worry that technological advancements will find an alternative to the rare mineral and they will be left in a load of debt.
Reduce gas emissions
With stricter gas emission restrictions worldwide, another aim of the panel is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of ordinary passenger cars by 90 percent by 2050.
Japan wants to do its bit in the global quest to achieve zero emissions, as agreed to in the Paris Agreement. And, as a country with some of the best car manufacturers in the world it is fitting that they should try to lead the way to a greener auto industry and a better, cleaner environment in the future.
With the decision to develop only electric cars by 2050, Japan is ensuring its future as a leading auto manufacturer while also meeting its green ambitions.
