Rising costs of materials such as lithium and nickel used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries are contributing to the increased prices of these batteries in China.
- This is opposite to the expectations that prices of the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries utilized in powering electric vehicles, critical for the energy transition, would continue dropping over time.
- Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI), Chief Executive Simon Moores stated that the initial cost rises from large-scale battery production had been achieved with the development of gigafactories.
- Moores added that the costs of raw materials, more so lithium, are increasing and feeding into battery costs.
- Electric vehicle batteries utilize lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide. BMI’s evaluation of the lithium carbonate prices in China reveals an increase of over 300% over the last year to $28,675 a tonne in mid-October.
Widespread power crunch in China leading to a decline in supplies and rapid increase in demand have led to shortages of nickel sulfate and increased prices of battery chemicals.
Source: Reuters