Are we racing towards a global electric vehicle battery drought?

Believe it or not, one Nissan Leaf electric car is sold every ten minutes. That is according to the Japanese manufacturer, which also said it has sold more than 320,000 units of its all-electric car worldwide.

The latest milestone saw the 100,000th Nissan Leaf delivered in Europe, highlighting the fact no other electric vehicle is as popular and, thanks to numerous improvements to the latest model, it should continue to sell like hot cakes.

Or will it? We have heard rumblings from rival manufacturers that there simply aren't enough batteries out there to satisfy demand ─ at least, indefinitely. So even if the whole world wanted to ditch the combustion engine right this second, it would be impossible.

The reason is down to the raw materials used to make a battery. Basically, if you own a lithium mine you are in a position to print money. Except that would probably mean you live in China as it is one of the world's biggest suppliers (behind Chile and Argentina).

China could, of course, withhold supply to drive up the global price and make a profit. But as the biggest buyer of EVs in the world ─ a total of 580,000 vehicles last year, representing two per cent of all new car sales ─ it is more likely it will use some or all of its supply to satisfy demand, helping solve its pollution issues in the process.

So good news if you are living in China or South America. But what about the rest of the world? We actually had a brief chinwag with Hyundai UK CEO, Tony Whitehorn, about the whole thing and he was unusually transparent.

He explained that pre-orders are now off the table for the Ioniq Electric and that there is a concern the Kona Electric will be similarly hamstrung by a material shortage. So much so, in fact, that there is a bit of a fight for each territory to get a share of the battery inventory.

You can understand why, then, Hyundai has been taking a leaf (sorry) out of Toyota's book, in that it is taking hydrogen-fuelled electric vehicles more seriously. Other manufacturers are likely to follow suit.

Given there are even fewer places to fill up a hydrogen car than an electric one and the safety implications of having a pressurised tank in your vehicle, we always saw Toyota's hydrogen vision as somewhat odd, maybe even misguided.

But now it seems wise, at least until viable solutions come to fruition. Because if not, electric vehicle margins may shrink and force a price increase. Not a good thing when going for a petrol or diesel alternative is already substantially cheaper.

Nissan avoided commenting on a potential lithium shortage, but said orders were currently unaffected. "We manufacture our own batteries at our Sunderland plant and Leafs are being produced at Sunderland in line with our production schedule."

Tesla, meanwhile, previously maintained the stance that lithium is only the "salt" on the meal, as if it had the situation under control (or wanted people to think that). But it has recently admitted that battery module production is what is holding back the Model 3.

Analysts have, admittedly, been pointing the issue out for some time (lithium carbonate prices basically doubled between 2015 and 2017), but it appears we are approaching boiling point.

Digging up more lithium from South America and Australia (another major supplier) is one answer. There is also a push towards using other materials for battery cells, which would ease the strain. Neither appears to be a short-term fix, though.

It is hard to say how bad the great battery supply issue will get, but what is clear is that it may not be consumer habits, a love of V8 noise, electric vehicle pricing or range anxiety that keeps the world from leaving the combustion engine behind just yet. If at all.