AJM Chart, page-4178

According to investment bank Morgan Stanley, by 2050 electric vehicles could comprise as much as 90 per cent of all new car sales. Crucial to powering EVs are rechargeable batteries, and lithium-ion batteries are already well ahead in the technology race with demand set to escalate as the EV market gains momentum.

Lithium-ion batteries require cobalt, nickel and graphite for their cathodes and anodes, the charged electrodes which supply the electrical current – and the Japanese car maker, Subaru, also is working with a lithium variant which includes the metal, vanadium.

EVs are only one part of the next-generation battery story.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that the global energy storage market will “double six times” between 2016 and 2030.

Bloomberg estimates that USD 103 billion will be invested in both large scale and home energy battery storage.

Australia’s lithium industry has responded to this transformation and is well placed to be a leading provider to the global battery industry, not just of the raw commodity but also of processed lithium hydroxide which is produced in Western Australia for use in battery manufacturing.