There’s an excellent chapter on this in David Sandalow’s new book “Plug-in Electric Vehicles.” From Chapter 6:

“Although shifting to HEVs, PHEVs, and AEVs will reduce U.S. demand for gasoline (and thus oil imports), it will not necessarily reduce U.S. import dependence. The strategic materials and rare earth elements critical to current designs for advanced vehicles are neither mined nor refined in the United States today; they too will have to be imported, in increasing volumes. Depending on which battery chemistries and power train configurations achieve substantial market penetration, this new import dependence may be quite extreme. In the case of certain materials–for example, cobalt and neodymium–rapid penetration of the U.S. light-duty vehicle market by HEVs, PHEVs, and AEVs could lead to extensive reliance on supplier countries whose governments are fragile and unstable or overtly hostile to the United States.”

There’s an excellent chapter on this in David Sandalow’s new book “Plug-in Electric Vehicles.” From Chapter 6:

“Although shifting to HEVs, PHEVs, and AEVs will reduce U.S. demand for gasoline (and thus oil imports), it will not necessarily reduce U.S. import dependence. The strategic materials and rare earth elements critical to current designs for advanced vehicles are neither mined nor refined in the United States today; they too will have to be imported, in increasing volumes. Depending on which battery chemistries and power train configurations achieve substantial market penetration, this new import dependence may be quite extreme. In the case of certain materials–for example, cobalt and neodymium–rapid penetration of the U.S. light-duty vehicle market by HEVs, PHEVs, and AEVs could lead to extensive reliance on supplier countries whose governments are fragile and unstable or overtly hostile to the United States.”