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\u201cIt\u2019s almost irrational, the expectation that we can electrify everything and have all the materials that we actually need for batteries and electric vehicles\u2026by 2030, or 2035,\u201d M. Stephen Enders, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines and a 48-year veteran of the mining industry, told Fortune. <\/em>\u201cWe can\u2019t supply the metals fast enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Copper is an essential component in electric vehicles because of its conductive properties: a typical EV requires over 132 pounds of copper, as opposed to just 52 pounds for the average gas-powered car<\/a>. As the auto industry continues to electrify, it\u2019s driving an exponential increase in copper demand<\/a> that the notoriously slow, long-term oriented mining industry simply isn\u2019t capable of meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n New research shows<\/a> that in order to meet policymakers\u2019 EV and green energy hopes, we will need to mine more than twice as much copper over the next 25 years as has been mined throughout all of human history up to 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is highly unlikely that there will be sufficient additional new mines to achieve 100% EV by 2035,\u201d wrote Cornell University professor Lawrence Cathles and University of Michigan professor Adam Simon in a recent report<\/a>. Reaching that target \u201crequires unprecedented rates of mine production.\u201d<\/p>\n Given that the average mine requires decades to build, it\u2019s impossible to ramp up production overnight. And copper mining isn\u2019t just time-consuming, it\u2019s also expensive\u2014meaning that it\u2019s tough for new entrants or smaller-capitalized companies to rush into the market.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you\u2019ve got a discovery<\/a>, the time you have to [wait until] first production is\u2026 23 years,\u201d Enders said. \u201cIt takes a long time for this to happen. The capital cost to build a project ranges\u2026I\u2019ve seen it as high as $7 or $8 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n That means to hit long-term targets\u2014or even come close to analysts\u2019 expectations for near-term copper demand\u2014mining companies have no time to lose<\/a>. Cathles and Simon emphasized that governments have an important role to play in promoting domestic mining investment. Environmental regulations and land ownership laws in the United States make it one of the more expensive places to mine globally.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important that copper exploration and mine development be encouraged, starting now. The EU and US should demonstrate on their own territories that increasingly responsible mining can be carried out and thereby prove that they consider mining to be important and are willing to do their share of it,\u201d reads the report.<\/p>\n Automakers looking for a way out are buoyed by hopes of technological developments that could circumvent a need for copper. Researchers have proposed using solid-state batteries<\/a>, which don\u2019t require as much copper and other minerals in short supply, for electric vehicles instead of conventional lithium batteries\u2014but large-scale production is still years away.<\/p>\n \u201cCopper is the mineral most fundamental to the human future,\u201d reads the report. \u201cMining must be recognized as essential.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to keep up with the trends, issues, and executives shaping corporate finance. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n