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Tesla's Cobalt Conundrum

Sourcing the mineral, essential for Tesla batteries, is being hampered by war.

Tesla Motors needs a lot of cobalt for its electric cars, but it has a problem, most of it is in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.
So with ambitious plans to produce 500,000 of its new Model Three cars a year, can Tesla get all the cobalt it needs, and can it do it ethically?
Nathaniel Dyer from the campaign group Global Witness, rare metals trader Anthony Lipmann and US mining and metals expert Jack Lifton give us their assessments.

Picture: Cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit:Federico Scoppa AFP/Getty Images.

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18 minutes

Last on

Fri 28 Jul 2017 07:32GMT

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  • Fri 28 Jul 2017 07:32GMT

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