Indian power producer NTPC's mining arm will explore overseas sourcing of battery minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, three sources told Reuters on Monday. The South Asian country, among the world's top greenhouse gas emitters, has been pursuing pacts with other countries to secure key minerals in resource-rich countries such as Australia, Argentina and Chile. India aims to be a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2070…"We are keen to diversify into critical minerals, specifically lithium, nickel and cobalt," one of the sources in the company said. The sources did not specify which countries India will be talking to, to explore battery minerals sourcing.

Saudi Arabia is in early talks with U.S. electric automaker Tesla to set up a manufacturing facility in the kingdom, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The report comes just hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to build a vehicle factory in Turkey, according to the country's communications directorate…Musk is also set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday…Saudi Arabia has been wooing Tesla with the right to purchase certain quantities of metals and minerals the company needs for its electric vehicles from countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report said…One of the proposals the kingdom is considering involves extending financing to commodities trader Trafigura for a flailing Congo cobalt and copper project, which could help provide a Tesla factory with supplies, the WSJ report said…A Trafigura spokesperson said the trader was reviewing its options for the Mutoshi project in Congo amid rising costs and persistently low cobalt prices.

The European Union could become as dependent on China for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells by 2030 as it was on Russia for energy before the war in Ukraine unless it takes strong measures, a paper prepared for EU leaders said…Worried by China's growing global assertiveness and economic weight, the leaders will discuss the European Commission's proposals to reduce the risk of Europe being too dependent on China and the need diversify towards Africa and Latin America…While the EU has a strong position in the intermediate and assembly phases of making electrolysers, with a more than 50% global market share, it relies heavily on China for fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries crucial for electric vehicles…"Without implementing strong measures, the European energy ecosystem could have a dependency on China by 2030 of a different nature, but with a similar severity, from the one it had on Russia before the invasion of Ukraine," it said.

The United Auto Workers strike in the US and the European Union’s launch of an investigation into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies may seem like unrelated events. But both reflect angst about carmakers’ pivot away from gas-guzzlers to volt-eaters and the existential questions about competitiveness and labor that come with it. And why things may escalate…The EU’s problem is that its market is wide open to Chinese EV imports. Thanks to 25% tariffs put in place by the Trump administration on top of existing 2.5% ones, the US is not. Plus the Biden administration is already providing billions in subsidies to carmakers to build EV plants in the US to compete with China…But that may not be the end of the story. There are some people convinced that before long the US will be ratcheting up its own trade protections for the EV sector as global competition gets even more intense…Automakers Ford, GM and Stellantis, meanwhile, have been arguing that the sort of 40% over four years wage increases and 32-hour work week the union is seeking will make them less internationally competitive. If the strike results in higher pay (which Biden has said the companies should be willing to give), the companies too would have reason to go to the White House and ask for greater protections…But Eissenstat’s point is that neither the EU action nor the UAW strike and its consequences are likely to mark the end of the story. The transition to EVs being mandated by state and national governments to address climate change and China’s dominance of the sector are powerful forces likely to clash for many years to come…“This is one of the most important developments in our time,” Eissenstat said. “When you have a rising manufacturer like China, producing good vehicles with good technology that are cheaper and governments are putting out mandates that everybody’s going to stop producing combustion-engine vehicles and going to buy these EVs something’s got to happen.”

A clutch of European and U.S. delivery company startups is racing to serve the growing market for offering zero-emission, electric last-mile deliveries in cities to retailers and consumers before giant shippers do the same…The likes of Germany's Liefergrun, the UK's Zedify and Packfleet, and New York-based DutchX are tapping into retailers' need to hit environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and emission-reduction targets. Collectively, zero-emission delivery startups have raised around $1 billion so far, according to Pitchbook and data collected by Reuters…They hope to grab market share during the long lead times while industry leaders are still gearing up. For instance, FedEx targets 2040 for its zero-emission delivery fleet; Deutsche Post DHL Group says 60% of its delivery fleet will be electric by 2030, the same year that Amazon plans to have 100,000 Rivian electric trucks in service. United Parcel Service expects 40% of its delivery vehicles to run on alternative fuel by 2025. Using their own routing technology for urban and suburban deliveries, these small but rapidly growing startups must scale up while also keeping prices low in a competitive market, which could also make them acquisition targets…In a pilot project, DHL will switch to 100% zero-emission last-mile e-commerce deliveries in the Netherlands by the end of this year, with other markets to follow through investments of "double-digit billions" of euros, said Deutsche Post DHL head of corporate development Yin Zou…DHL's Zou said investor pressure is mounting on logistics companies and customers alike to cut emissions…Some retailers have set tough targets. For instance, IKEA wants 100% zero-emission last-mile deliveries by 2025…The challenge for startups is that scaling up is difficult. Many use smaller vehicles than the typical delivery truck, squeezing profit margins because it is hard to deliver enough packages to offset labor and other costs.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to build a Tesla factory in Turkey, the country's communications directorate said on Monday…It cited Musk as saying that many Turkish suppliers are already working with Tesla and that Turkey was among the most important candidates for its next factory…Erdogan and Musk were speaking during a meeting at Turkish House, a skyscraper near the United Nations in New York, Turkey's state-owned Anadolu news agency reported…Tesla currently has six factories and is building a seventh in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state, part of the automaker's push to expand its global footprint…Musk said in May that Tesla would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year.