The global automotive industry is in a state of upheaval - and Luis Arce has big plans for how this can benefit his country. The president of Bolivia is hoping to ride the trend towards electromobility, and pull his country out of poverty along the way, with the help of giant lithium deposits.

The South American country wants to get into the lithium business in a big way: While the light metal has thus far been mined only for experimental purposes, plans are now in motion to begin mining the "white gold" on an industrial level.

By 2030, Bolivia wants to be able to supply about 40% of global demand, says Arce. "We use our raw materials in sovereignty and for the benefit of Bolivians," he told a symposium in La Paz that attracted companies from around the world to show off the latest technology in lithium extraction.

Arce has every reason to believe his plans will succeed: According to market research company IHS Markit, sales of electric cars are expected to increase by 70% worldwide over the course of 2021. However, part of this increase depends on the availability of powerful batteries, and thus lithium.

The ions from the alkaline metal's salts are essential for transporting an electrical charge in most modern high-performance batteries. According to IHS Markit, the demand for lithium could increase fivefold in the next 35 years.

While Bolivia has the world's largest single lithium deposit at Salar de Uyuni, Chile has the largest proven reserves in the world and is second only to Australia in terms of production.

However, lithium extraction has led to criticism in both South American countries: Arce's predecessor, Evo Morales, cancelled a cooperation agreement between the state-owned company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos and Germany-based ACI Systems in 2018 due to protests in the Potosi region. Talks have resumed since the political situation in Bolivia has calmed.

In Argentina, lithium is currently being extracted in two mines, but there are plans in the works for 40 more projects.

Notably, BMW has attached itself to Argentina, saying that it intends to source its lithium from the South American country as well starting from 2022. By 2030, the German carmaker aims for half of all the cars it sells to be fully electric.

The government in Buenos Aires sees the growing demand as a chance to significantly increase revenues from the lithium business: Production is expected to nearly triple, to 230,000 tons, by the end of 2022, and export revenues could then increase from US$190mil to roughly US$1bil .

BMW isn't the only one trying to reach out to these lithium power players: Germany's world-renowned automotive industry at large is thinking about access to sufficient lithium amounts.

The other factor in electromobility breaking onto the larger market is the automotive industry's ability to significantly expand its capacity to produce its own mobile voltage sources.

Volkswagen recently announced that it would build several more battery cell factories in the coming years, while Opel has teamed up with the French battery specialists at Saft. BMW and Daimler are also investing billions of euros in electromobility and the continued development of battery cell technology.

 - dpa