Battery metal deployment in newly sold EVs consequently also hit an all time high. A combined 171 kilotonnes of graphite, LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent), nickel, cobalt and manganese were contained in the EVs sold during September, 26% more than the same month last year. Keep in mind that these are terminal installed tonnes and that metal demand at the mine mouth is considerably greater.
The robust expansion also comes despite a noticeable swing from full electric vehicles towards plug-in hybrids (PHEV sales are growing nearly four times the rate of BEVs this year) which have inherently smaller batteries and therefore less contained metal.
Price slump
When pairing metals demand with prices in the EV battery supply chain there is less to cheer, however.
Lithium is still firmly in a bear grip with average hydroxide prices in October more than 30% below the average in December last year while carbonate…
