Aluminium use in passenger cars poses systemic challenges for recycling and GHG emissions

•Automotive aluminium use is likely to increase by a factor 3 to 5 towards 2050.•The carbon footprint of Al in EVs is set to become larger than that of batteries.•Decarbonizing Al production is essential but insufficient to offset this increase.•Vehicle fleet electrification reduces recycling options to mitigate GHG emissions.•Systemic measures are becoming critical for enabling future recycling.