A big bringing in 500000000000. 00 annually to keep its Global Leadership b. M. W. Dima and v. W. Will spend 45000000000. 00 on electric Vehicle Technology over the next 3 years for its part says its last fossil fuel based car will be released in 2026 but environmentalists say thats too little too late they want all manufacturers to phase out polluting engines by 2028 so how realistic is this now to serious Dominic Casey has been to a car plant in eastern germany to find out. This is the production line of the folks going to plant in sickle whether robotic and human workforce combine to assemble more than 300000. 00 vehicles every year the decades virtually all the peoples cars produced here have been powered by petrol engines but not for much longer now electric is the buzzword but we are convinced that not just german drivers but also european ones are ready for this and we are ready to roll out these cars to the whole world why because an electric car is not a compromise they have everything that a car needs maybe even a little more they can be more dynamic with better driving characteristics you get a good sense of the differences between the vehicles when you look inside their shasta stripped down as they are here this is the conventionally powered gulf look at the Central Panel which is clearly big to contain is that and that sort of thing those sorts of controls but kind of cross to what we have here the ideological card no major Central Panel because batteries will be going where previously the sorts of machinery that were in the gulf were installed this drive is part of a commitment from v. W. To phase out all fossil fuel powered cars by 2040 leading environmental campaigners are demanding far more radical results holding onto the status quo is like holding on the sand on the beach. Time will slip between your hands and fingers in the past and you will be left with absolutely nothing but the best in your hands this sort of sentiment has fueled a surge in popularity for the green party across the continent with the movement reaching clear success in mays european elections in many peoples minds are problems like these in stuttgart one of the most polluted cities in germany where levels of exhaust emissions regularly exceed safety elements and older diesel engines are already banned we are making very clear if you really want to make progress here if you really want to make sure that the cities are cleaning up without doing any circulation ban because thats what the conservatives hate well maybe then we have to clean up the cars and and we need to put up for policies in place for cleaning up the chorus thats the debate were having and were hoping we can push it further which helps explain why the carmakers are embracing the electric revolution and why for v. W. Fossil fuel powered cars will soon reach the end of the line dominic cain aljazeera. Well while german comic has are getting ready to spend billions on electric cars one nation has stolen a march in the field chinas technology is considered to be miles ahead of its rivals are economics that is a spoke to alexander close the executive Vice President of chinese electric car maker a ways he began by asking if its Technology Advantage was one reason for its plans to expand overseas starting in germany we think we have a very Good Foundation here in china where you actually have a huge electrical Vehicle Market already and we want to export that to other places where we think the development hasnt been as fast as it has been in china thats why we think we have a certain advantage going to these places namely for us places to go to receive them and German Companies that is start spending 45000000000 on electric cars and you have tesla as another competitor are you well capitalized to be able to deal with that kind of competition we think what well do we offer a vehicle will offer vehicle plus services around that vehicle in the European Market and we will capitalize to do that what others have to spend to actually convert all of the. Existing assets into electrical vehicles and do for electrical codes its something completely different we think weve very well equipped to go into the European Market and as we all starting at the same time we think we have actually a very good chance of not market and why do you think your pains will be interested in buying your cause 1st of all i have to say we wont sell these cars to europeans we just least we want to make it as easy as possible for anybody who wants to go in the battery electric vehicle and we think a lot of people do want to go into battery electric vehicles we want to make it very easy for them to get into this vehicle so we will only leads them to. No question about versatile value no question about warranty no question about maintenance and so on will make it very easy for everybody to get into these cars we know that there is a lot of people who want to drive b. And they just cant do so because all they get in the market at present is very expensive its going to be a risk because nobody knows what the research you value ability in a few years nobody knows what the battery will too and so on we want to take all of that off and we think we have an offering that a lot of people will interested in but youve got Companies Like b y d is a Chinese Company india which have sought International Expansion but havent made the transition yes so where do you think you can improve on that everybody else has talked about thought about it and so on well just going to do it we think we have a product that is in terms of quality ready for the European Market we think also that we offer everything that the european customers would want to have and thats why were just going to jump over the over to europe we think its also the right time may be a year ago 2 years ago it was in the right time but now its the right time theres a lot of people literally that are waiting for a car that they can afford where they will have no risk to get into a better electric vehicle and where they can just test this and we offer them that vehicle do you think electric cars are the future in specially when there is concern about range eggs lightly and china itself is considering Hydrogen Technology too for Long Distances in particular 1st of all we think that most of the customers in the market today will actually not need a car for a very Long Distance there is this discussion about a range scientists but we think its exaggerated we still offer a car with a very long range and. To our knowledge people will find out. In a few years that and maybe that range is even too much for them so they could actually do with a smaller range we still offer it today obviously we dont want to offer something for everybody in the market right now we just offering one certain vehicle for a certain purpose and we think that we have to right solution for that what will be the solution for long range travelling for somebody who has to travel a long range every day is still in the open we doing our own research in that area and there is some some lets say some technologies which might be the right technologies for the future but nobody knows that and were all still developing for that time before that and also for a lot of the short range travel its going to be battery electric vehicles we have very convinced about that sales of cars are slowing in china and we also have the threat of a longer trade war with the United States just tell us what your feelings are as to where the industry is going in china itself yes sales have been slowing in china but they have been slowing in certain segments and certain manufacturers stuff in other manufacturers which still successful we are a startup we have a plant with a certain capacity which way we want to fill in we think we can fill that capacity because its only one small part of the market so whilst the market has been slowing around us and we dont think thats going to impact our expansion in the future particularly as we also going abroad as to the potential trade war between china and the u. S. As we expanding in europe 1st its not going to impact us for now well proceed also thinking about the u. S. Market but that might be at a later stage and excludes the executive Vice President of a ways talking that while business as a bit early. And i want to carry on some of the thoughts from that interview with our next guest joining us from london simon morse the managing director of benchmark Mineral Intelligence simon you are the leading provider of pricing data for lithium key ingredients of electric Battery Technology but there are concerns that if the world was to stop producing electric cars at the current rate of production we could use up the worlds resources within 17 to 40 years whats missing from that analysis quite a bit really mean lithium isnt rare the question is getting out the ground in economic quantities and at the moment the lithium industry has gone through a surge in exploration and new development but right now theres not not as much investment going into the lithium industry to go beyond 2025 so the numbers you quoted really a little maybe minerals in the ground it isnt taken to it into account production thats coming on stream and new exploration is going to happen but the takeaway point is let him isnt geologically rare but the challenge is getting it into the supply chain in economic quantities you talk about funding its being held back isnt it because investors just dont know how to price this mineral at the moment theyre looking to the likes of the London Metals Exchange to provide a tradeable contract just like copper of the like but a lot of players within the industry dont particularly like to trade it that way thats exactly right so lithium is traded in private contracts between buyer and seller and at benchmark we create an independent reference prize to enable that supply chain to trade with more clarity and more freedom never before but as lithium grows is going to be new ways to trade lithium contracts and one was the London Metal Exchange you have a number of other exchanges looking at it as well but lithium is a speciality chemical ready its going from the nature 300020 year industry into the mainstream to about a 1000000 tonnes in the mid 20 twentys and with that will come different ways to trade this and when. Expanding that quickly in a market lithium cant just rely on itself to expand anymore its going to need x. Turn or capital and the issue without external capital is investors are present too scared to put their money into it because they dont understand the fume is too risky its too specialist or the evy story is the sun too good to be true and i think thats the main challenge at the moment its more rare mineral and new. Sources of lithium come on line is there a danger that there might be oversupply and that could impact negatively upon the price how long does it get once youve got the investment how long does it get these these mines up and running is a really good question because it takes anywhere between 8 and 10 years to build a lithium my from scratch and to get it ramped up without any problems and thats the biggest challenge for lithium the investment has gone into the mid twentys twentys as i said but really the surge in electric Vehicle Production is coming after that point and theres a big question mark over where the money is going to come from for all these future lithium mines but as i said the exploration people know these tier one lithium sources now they understand the to 2 sources the question is if the money is going to be committed and at the moment its not coming from the Capital Markets its coming from the industry itself right for the moment chinese entities control nearly half of Global Lithium production and 60 percent of electric battery Production Capacity does that become a security concern for other nations it has to especially the us i mean when you look for certain parts of the supply chain should i should add so when you look at the lithium structure youve got 6 big producers 2 of which are chinese 2 of which are actually american producers money in south america and the question really isnt on the structure of the lithium industry that kind of that does operate in a sensible normal Market Driven way its actually where the Battery Capacity is being built out so weve we collect this data also benchmark and weve got 1. 9 terawatt hours of Battery Capacity by 2029 it sounds a lot it means about 35000000 electric vehicles but where is that capacity being built out its china 67 percent of this batch is in china how much as in the u. S. Its about 8 percent the question is if you take tesla and their huge gigafactory out the equation the number is 3 percent. So the u. S. Really should be concerned about these supply chains and is playing catch up with china some and really good to talk to you on cutting across many thanks indeed for being with us simon morse managing director at benchmark Mineral Intelligence that show for this week if youd like to comment on anything that youve seen you can tweet me im at a finnigan on twitter please use the hash tag a j c t c when you do or you could drop us a line count in the cost of aljazeera dot net is our email address as always theres plenty more for you online at aljazeera dot com slash c. T. C. That takes you straight to our page and there youll find individual reports links even entire episodes for you to catch up on but thats it for this edition of counting the cost im Adrian Finnegan from the whole team here in doha thanks for being with us the news on aljazeera is next. Let me take itto thanks like no please son. While the rain. Continues strong against solstice on most skilled. Nations will come to traffic in stadiums that are dropped in class. Discover our newest destination defeat the womens world cup france 29 t. They wanted 43000000000 pounds worth of weaponry that was 6000000000 in commission. There is no hope of any more because theres always a small cobbles people really really good business. In assonance we in the United States have privatized the ultimate Public Function more shadow on aljazeera. And look forward to saying hello to him if if that all finally works out there just is always a chance that it might not but it sounds like the teams would like to have that work out will they all wont they donald trump talks of his trip to the Demilitarized Zone between north and south korea but will kim jong un be there to greet. Hello im down in jordan this is al jazeera from doha also coming up the g. 20 summit wraps up in japan where the u. S. And china but its a real them play talks but members fail to reach a consensus on climate change. Washington reportedly wants to know how American Made antitank weapons got into the hands of fighters loyal to the libyan the war after. And why a british rappers groundbreaking appearance at one of the worlds biggest Music Festivals has cast a spotlight on the u. K. s fractured political landscape. Well talks of a possible meeting between donald trump and kim jong un have dominated a summit between the u. S. And south korean president s speaking in seoul President Trump said north korean officials want to take up his offer to meet at the Demilitarized Zone later on sunday noon jane who would accompany the u. S. President to the border as back to the potential meeting saying it would be historic well in a moment well be live with our diplomatic editor james bays and thats near the d. M. Z. But 1st lets go to rob mcbride in seoul where trump and moon jane will hold a joint press conference a little bit later rob so we have this tantalizing prospect of trouble briefly meeting the north Korean Leader at the d. M. Z. Clearly there there has been work to make this happen and itll be pretty historic. Yeah absolutely daryn its the big question here is just how unexpected this has all been and how spontaneous or indeed whether theres been an awful lot of work in advance to make this happen and this has been planned for some time we really dont know but there has been increasing speculation that yes we are likely to see an historic event this sunday afternoon on the Korean Peninsula speculation has been mounting in the local media here with reports of south korean and u. S. Officials meeting overnight with their current north Korean Counterparts on the d. M. Z. The speculation has been fueled of course by both moon j. N. And donald trump themselves they have been beaten for ready a summit at the blue house a working lunch we are now waiting for a press conference after that as you mentioned theyre moving jay and has talked about how historic this is it all the more historic of course the that it may well be a 3 way deal that we will have the president of south korea the leader of north korea and the president of the United States all meeting and to give you an idea of what were seeing here normally. The United States the security people there on the security people of south korea never discussed the visits of their president s to the Demilitarized Zone for security reasons so it gives you a sense of the that we are living through some unprecedented moments here and of course donald trump speaking just ahead of the summit meeting with the south koreans as always seeming to tease this out seeming to confirm that it is going to take place but keeping us guessing and we may well be kept guessing right up until the maid act to start taking those historic steps towards the line separate between the blue huts of pam and john. Ive been told that. I would like to meet and there looks like theyre in final stages of working out in just a very quick meeting because ill be at the d. M. Z. Anywhere the border of the d. M. Z. And i look forward to saying hello to him if if there are finally works. And rob just talk us through south koreas role in kick starting the stalled talks between the u. S. And north korea i mean what does president moon see as his role in Going Forward thats right down that will very much have been the talking points on the agenda for this extended summit meeting that theyve been having its worth reminding our men amongst all this giddiness yesterday was this is unprecedented is history making but its worth remembering just where those stalled talks are up to after the failure of hanoi from the north korean position they are still insisting that the americans have got to come back with something new before theyll return to the negotiating team table there are the hawks in the u. S. Side who are still insisting there has to be denuclearized nation and pointed out with some justification that and up until this point north korea has a not dismantled or boxed up a single part of its Nuclear Arsenal so they are still miles apart and yet as you mentioned there south korea will be hoping that maybe this top down approach that they are once more resorting to will find some way of producing something meaningful or right or wrong bride there in the south korean capital rob thanks for that lets cross over now to our diplomatic editor james bays who is live for us and pleasure to south korea thats near the Demilitarized Zone james that looks like this meeting between trump and kim will happen now at the d. M. Z. Just talk us through whats going on where you are now. Well i think it looks like its going to happen simply because of the comments that weve had from President Trump and president moon they are being very optimistic about this and i think they wouldnt be so positive if they didnt think that the meeting was on but of course its a difficult thing to organize and the south sorry the North Koreans could be somewhat unpredictable so nothing i think can be confirmed and till we see that meeting which is still i think a possibility but now a strong possibility well find out more in just a few moments because as as youve seen weve already heard from both the south korean president and President Trump but in fact theyre going to speak to the press again shortly and will update us further on what is going to happen at this meeting at the d. M. Z. Which we expect to happen if they stay according to plan and its perhaps looked a few minutes off the official white house schedule in about an hours time from now i think the. Form of this i think is if it does happen will be perhaps similar to when president moon met with kim last year we saw the 2 leaders come either side of the line at the d. M. Z. And then shake hands across the divide and then we saw kim enter south korea taking steps into south korea and and then he guided moon back into the north and i think thats the sort of photo opportunity that the white house will be hoping for because they know that will have real resonance on both sides of the Korean Peninsula and james if they do shake hands it will be the 3rd time both leaders will have met in just over a year or so how will this meeting reset relations between the u. S. And north korea because we have these stalled denuclearization talks which as Robert Wright was saying havent got any way yes. Well lets just deal with what might happen if it does 1st shaking of hands important particularly happening at a place that is still an active front line because there was no peace treaty signed at the end of the korean war 66 years ago just an armistice so that will be important if trump actually steps over the border it may seem like a little step but that will be very significant and historic because theyll be the 1st time in those 66 years that a sitting u. S. President has entered north korea without former president S Jimmy Carter and bill clinton have gone to pyongyang with this with the 1st time a sitting u. S. President in charge of the u. S. Forces on the Korean Peninsula has actually entered the other side so that would be important to the very important 1 photo in terms of the actual process diplomats who ive spoken to including some pretty high level diplomats dont believe theres much of a process going on at this stage since hanoi and thats half the problem you have a relationship with 2 leaders who seem to get on quite well but to make that transfer into some sort of process to lead to some sort of deal you need the detailed work and nothing seems to be going on to a lower level what this perhaps can do is show that both sides are still invested in the process and actually start the detailed work behind the scenes as we now see the south korean president and President Trump heading down the stairs of the blue house theyre going to give us a few more details i think that yeah james were still waiting were still waiting now for that press conference in fact now that in fact President Trump and the south korean president jane walking down now to the podium lets just watch them coming down the steps there theyre going to give this press conference after the bilateral talks which they had. The president ial palace a little bit earlier say u. S. President donald trump after the g. 20 summit coming up. South korea. Meets with the south korean president and also this tantalizing prospect of this meeting with the north Korean Leader at the d. M. Z. Lets listen in to what he has had to say. Tonight a trumpet we have to look at tonight dont you think it is just how we do it had a year and i just got a. Bunch of young talents are you good about an 80 or do you doubt sincerity i just needa do that i know youre too young but trying to get old. Can you. Do about an 80. Or 100. 100. 00 she was one youre so hung up on the u. S. And south korea having to focus on. The worlds attention. For the 1st time in history. North korea and usa leaders. Will be able to meet. The test would be the 1st step towards. Peace. And the south korea and north korea will be. Able to. Talk about the peace in the future. What we really want. Is a Permanent Peace on the Korean Peninsula. Mr trump will be going down history and we president who made. Peace on the Korean Peninsula. And id like to keep my appreciation to mr trump and. North Korean Leader kim. Is the practical and practical approach to peace. As far as. Is concerned. The complete station on the Korean Peninsula and prominence peace. Is very important in