Critics of the transition from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles point out that many obstacles remain to full adoption. These include high costs, unknown electrical grid capacity and, importantly, access to the critical minerals necessary to create the all-important battery packs. With car battery technology, lithium is the key metal, and like other strategic inputs, most of the world supply is a long way away from America’s auto manufacturers. That, however, may be changing, as Albemarle Corporation and Caterpillar have announced a deal to collaborate on zero emissions battery-powered mining equipment for deployment at Albemarle’s Kings Mountain North Carolina lithium mine. * * *Want to watch this podcast as a video? This Week in Engineering is available on engineering.com TV along with all of our other shows such as End of the Line, Designing the Future, Manufacturing the Future, and the Engineering Roundtable.