My Kingdom For An EV Lithium Battery

Thought $26K for an EV battery was a tad much? It may go even higher as surging demand in China is pushing lithium prices to new record & generating fears it will slow adoption of EVs in US. Check that warranty again?

According to the WSJ, those out of this world prices for lithium that goes into Chinese-made EV batteries “are intensifying a race between auto makers to lock up supplies” before they’re unavailable at any price: “Lithium carbonate prices in China, the benchmark in the fast-growing market, stand at about $71K a metric ton” which is “almost 4 times as high as a year ago.” How’s this possible? Explains the WSJ, lithium prices keep going up, “driven by a pickup in electric-vehicle sales in China,” the world’s biggest market for EVs. “Lithium is really following the Chinese EV market & that’s just taking off,” said Edward Meir a metals consultant at ED&F Capital Markets. “This is a preview of what could await us in the US.”

Well, tomorrow may already be here. US automakers are “racing to catch up with front-runner Tesla” to bring EV factories online AND all “have struck deals with lithium producers to lock down scarce supplies” located mostly in Chile, Australia, Argentina and China. You think the left-leaning countries in that line up are going to sell their rare lithium cheaply to Americans who come a calling down the road? Then, there’s left-leaning US pols like California’s Gov Newsom who is imposing state taxes & other regulations on lithium extraction that “are likely to delay” mine development in the US & Europe. Moreover, “concerns about the effect of lithium mining on water supplies & other environmental worries have also held back efforts [in the US] to crack open new deposits.”

Davd Soul