Aug 6 (Reuters) – Mining companies say they do not fear a plan by China’s CATL (300750.SZ) to make an electric vehicle (EV) battery without lithium or other key metals because the new design will have a limited range and more-powerful rival battery technologies will gobble up minerals supply in coming years.

The industry’s confidence is born from the rapid rise of the battery to power not only transportation, but myriad other parts of the global economy, an evolution that many industry analysts expect to require a massive expansion of mining.

The number of global EVs, for instance, is expected to jump more than 14 times to 145 million by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). At the same time, utilities are building out massive fleets of batteries to store electricity.

Lithium ion batteries are expected to remain the dominant battery chemistry as the industry burgeons, especially in transportation. But CATL said last month it would develop a sodium ion battery that contains no nickel, lithium or cobalt. read more