Platinum Group Metal (PGM) firms are calling on European policymakers to incentivise the deployment of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to secure precious metal supply chains.
In a new position paper, the International Platinum Group Metals Association (IPA) said that EU deployment targets for zero-emission road vehicles are heavily skewed towards battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), which it says imposes a “high risk” of supply chain bottlenecks.
It said as BEV volumes grow, supply chain challenges are becoming more evident. Currently, the EU almost exclusively relies on critical raw material (CRM) imports from a small number of suppliers.
“The supply of many critical raw materials (CRMs) is dependent on China, and the International Energy Agency has forecast global supply gaps in certain key materials for batteries,” the paper reads.
It calls on EU policymakers to provide a “truly level playing field” for FCEVs and BEVs by unlocking commercial-scale FCEV deployments across the block, seed hydrogen infrastructure roll outs and help bridge the cost gap.
By using FCEVs in combination with BEVs, IPA argues that policymakers could “greatly reduce the risk” of decarbonisation goals being derailed by metal shortages.
Additionally, the paper claims that FCEVs will secure the supply of iridium, which is used in both PEM electrolysers and BEVs.
Produced as a by-product of PGM mining, iridium is only mined if there is enough platinum demand, it stressed.
By implementing an “appropriate mix” of FCEV and BEV powertrains, IPA said the EU could use combustion vehicles as a “stable source” of recycled platinum and iridium “for decades.”
“We emphasise that this is not an anti-BEV strategy, it is a complementary strategy that supports BEV uptake and ensures that the overall system can be optimised to address decarbonisation, energy efficiency, raw materials constraints, and industrial competitiveness, with minimum sacrifice,” the paper concludes.
The position paper comes just months after the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) came into force in May.
Aimed to secure and diversify the bloc’s supply of CRMs, the act placed a focus on PGM recycling and supply diversification.
Enabling fuel cell circularity with platinum
As we move towards a cleaner and more sustainable future, platinum group metal (PGM) catalysed technologies are gaining increased focus. They are an asset to the Net Zero transition and allow reliable and sustainable growth of fuel cells, but this is not yet fully recognised by the market and regulators, with debate on their availability, cost and circularity.
PGMs are used in the performance-defining components at the heart of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Platinum in particular is essential to making this technology work. It catalyses the reaction of the hydrogen fuel with oxygen to produce power, with water and heat being formed as by-products. And it is unique in its ability to withstand the acidic and oxidising environment of a fuel cell stack while sustaining high catalytic activity over the stack’s lifetime.
These properties also make platinum irreplaceable elsewhere in the fuel cell stack. It protects vital components from the harsh conditions to reduce degradation but still maintains conductivity of the electricity generated…
Click here to keep reading.
