As demand for electric vehicles (EV) grows worldwide, production of these eco-friendly vehicles is set to impact the consumption of precious metals like palladium, platinum and rhodium.

As per S&P Global Platts, research consultant Bodo Albrecht has predicted that automotive catalysts that use palladium, platinum and rhodium will disappear by 2040. Speaking at the International Precious Metals Institute meeting in Orlando, Albrecht said: "Of course it will take forever to replace all the internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in the world, simply because people are keeping them for 10-12 years.”

Commenting on future demand for conventional ICE vehicles, Albrecht said as demand for EVs worldwide gradually outstrip that for ICE vehicles, prices of fossil fuels like diesel and petrol will fall sharply. At present, petrol-engined vehicles employ precious metals like palladium and rhodium for their catalytic converters, while diesel-powered vehicles use platinum and rhodium.

According to Albrecht, present-day fuel-cell vehicle prototypes consume 20-30 grams of platinum but OEMs like Toyota are engaged in cutting this down to around 6-8 grams used in today's catalytic converters.

“As with the development of automobile catalytic converters in the 1970s, demand for electric vehicles will come from efforts to control pollution. India has already decreed that all cars sold after 2030 must be electric, and China is already leading the world in electric vehicle demand,” Albrecht said.