A buyers strike on traditional internal combustion vehicles will force existing car manufacturers to rapidly change their production to electric vehicles, according to Pilbara Minerals managing director Ken Brinsden.

Addressing delegates at the annual Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie today, Mr Brinsden said he believed the transition to electric vehicles would be quicker than people expected.

“Soon no-one is going to want to buy internal combustion engine cars and the incumbents (traditional vehicle manufacturers) will have to roll out electric vehicle models, discount them and sell them,” he said.

Pilbara Minerals is ramping up development of its $234 million Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project in the Pilbara.

The company is eyeing a 2 million-tonne-a-year standalone mining and processing operation, producing a spodumene concentrate product at 6 per cent lithium.

It has Chinese offtake partners lined up for 100 per cent of its product for the first stage of the project, with General Lithium taking 140,000tpa and Ganfeng Lithium 30,000tpa.

Lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide are essential in cathode production in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles.

Mr Brinsden said people were grossly underestimating how quickly lithium supply would need to grow to meet demand as electric vehicle production ramped up.

He said a ten-fold increase in lithium consumption from 100 gigawatt hours to 1000 gigawatt hours between now and 2026 was based on a conservative estimate of 8 per cent of cars sold being electric by that year.

Mr Brinsden predicted big electric battery and carmakers would soon be looking to take positions in the lithium mining sector as they sought security of supply.

“They will be looking to get set in assets now because if they don’t, they are going to be paying a lot more later,” he said.

“You can’t keep ignoring what’s happening in China.”

However, Mr Brinsden admitted the sentiment in the lithium sector had run too hard, too fast last year when Pilbara Minerals’ share price hit 87¢, compared with today’s 39¢.

“A lot of people got burnt but now they’re coming back,” he said.

Mr Brinsden said the company had sold out of product for the first stage of its project with buyers lining up.

He noted the company would be producing at $US220/t and selling its product for $US820/t.

Mr Brinsden also talked up the potential of the company’s farm-in and joint venture agreement announced with Atlas Iron over the Mt Francisco lithium-tantalum project, just 50km south-west of its flagship Pilgangoora project.