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Gaborone, Botswana—— Authorities in Botswana have reported an increase in theft of lithium batteries from cell phone towers amid a surge in global demand for electric vehicle batteries. The southern African country’s largest mobile network operator said it lost more than $100,000 worth of lithium batteries in the past week alone.
Botswana police spokesman Diteko Motube said most of the stolen batteries were smuggled across the border with Zimbabwe.
Five suspects from Zimbabwe and a Botswana national were arrested this week in possession of batteries worth more than $100,000, Motube said.
The batteries were stolen from Mascom, Botswana’s leading mobile network service provider.
Company spokesman Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego said the theft was disrupting their service delivery.
“This issue is definitely a crisis, and it’s affecting our quality of service goals,” Lebotse-Sebego said. “We are working closely with relevant law enforcement and other regulators, including the community, to find sustainable solutions to contain this situation.”
EV Fuel Demand
Global demand for lithium batteries and their components has surged due to their use in electric vehicles.
However, Zenzo Moyo, a Zimbabwe-born British economic and political analyst, said the theft in Botswana could be the result of frequent power outages in some southern African countries.
“It’s no surprise that these lithium batteries are now in high demand, mainly because Southern Africa, especially Zimbabwe and South Africa, is experiencing load shedding,” Moyo said.
Some households use lithium batteries for solar lighting, and light industries also rely on lithium batteries.
There is a huge market for batteries in countries such as Zimbabwe that are turning to alternative energy sources, Moyo said.
“The economic difficulties Zimbabwe is facing cannot be used as an excuse for any kind of theft, whether these are batteries or not,” he said. “If you look at the numbers of (police) interceptions – they’re huge – it shows that the people carrying these batteries are either runners or they’re selling them. There’s a huge market for them, which is understandable, But the people who carry these batteries cannot be the ones who are starving to sell them because there is a market for them.”
demand exceeds supply
The price of lithium has risen 13-fold in the past two years, with global demand for the metal rapidly outstripping supply.
London-based price reporting agency Benchmark Mineral Intelligence predicts the lithium mining market will double in the next eight years to nearly $6.4 billion by 2030. –Voice of America
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