“E-cars need a lot of steel, too”

The auto sector will remain one of the steel industry's biggest customers, because the switch to e-mobility demands large quantities of steel for component parts, charging stations, power grids and power stations, Helmut Bünder writes for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “The auto industry is the single most important sector for German steel giant Thyssenkrupp AG,” said Karsten Kroos, chief executive of the company's Components Technology division. A quarter of Thyssenkrupp's annual revenue comes from the automobile sector. Currently, almost half of all e-cars worldwide contain component parts by Thyssenkrupp, and the company has already concluded several contracts to build battery factories, Bünder writes.

For background, read the CLEW dossiers The Energiewende and German carmakers and The energy transition's effect on jobs and business.