Rivian's CEO Says Battery Shortage Will Be A Bigger Issue Than Semiconductor Shortage

Rivian's CEO RJ Scaringe has warned the automotive industry about a potential battery shortage which would be a lot worse than what the industry faces with a semiconductor shortage. He described the shortage as a small appetiser but this comes after Tesla had predicted this almost a decade ago when it announced its plans for its first Gigafactory which would have battery manufacturing in-house. 

"Semiconductors are a small appetizer to what we are about to feel on battery cells over the next two decades," he told the Wall Street Journal.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe 

He believes the problem of imbalance in battery supply is going to be a bigger issue which was also highlighted by BMW's CEO Oliver Zipse who fears a dramatic transition towards EVs could render many companies in difficult positions as the supply of batteries is largely coming from China. 

Of course, many companies have made investments to diversify battery supply. NorthVolt is coming up in Europe, Foxconn is making investments in the US, and Tesla is looking towards Indonesia but these gigafactories take time to come up. These factories could be 2-3 years away and as demand for EVs goes up, a battery shortage could be a bigger issue than anyone realises.