China is making headway, preparing for the future of electric vehicles. China holds the largest, and fastest growing car market in the world, and it is securing natural resources to prepare for the inevitable move towards electric vehicles. Many Chinese companies are already buying stakes in Lithium mines across the world, the main component of car batteries. Lithium is scarce, mostly found in rocks in Australia or in brine pools in South America. Chinese corporations are buying stakes in companies across the world who have access to Lithium, like Great Wall Motors buying a stake in Pilbara Minerals from Australia and China’s Ganfeng Lithium buying up 20% of an Argentine project.

China holds the largest market for electric vehicles, and accounts for half of all electric car sales. It also makes 2/3 of every electric car battery in the market. As a result, it will be nearly impossible for car manufacturers to build without some form of Chinese influence. Vlokswagen, the worlds largest car manufacturer, has already released a $ 12 billion plan to start building cars in China. This trend does not seem to be slowing down. Just this year the value of lithium rose by 40 percent to $ 14,000 per ton, with the rise of electric vehicles hitting the market. The issue at the moment is that other than china, no other country is aggressively acquiring natural resources. Major American car manufactures are already developing electric cars like Ford, GM, and of course Tesla. But in the future, they may have to go to china due to the lack of scarcity in natural resources. Companies need to be proactive, and prepare themselves for the future. Chinese companies are preparing for decades ahead, and before long no one will be able to catch up if we too, are not looking towards the far future.