By Pratima Desai and Zandi Shabalala LONDON (Reuters) – Accelerating sales of electric vehicles have fuelled a scramble for nickel, cobalt and lithium, propelling prices of the battery materials to multi-year highs Phasing out internal combustion engine (ICE) cars in favour of electric vehicles is part of the energy transition and efforts to cut carbon emissions. More than 6.36 million electric vehicles were sold last year globally compared with 3.10 million in 2020, data from Rho Motion shows. China accounted for half of the total last year and 40% the previous year. (Graphic: Electric vehicl…