PLS - Lithium related news, page-185

Hi SF,
I agree that increased production of Li bateries will lower their price because of efficiencies with the increased production and that will encourage uptake of batteries. At the same time, altermative technologies will continue to appear and undergo development. I guess vandium batteries are an instance that are already contenders for suitable applications while solid state is still in an early stage (and may never prove successful although major players are pursuing these at present). I think fuel cell development remains a threat to Li, even if it is not to the forefront right now.
The graph of Li battery price that I attached shows a very rapid drop in price over 2010-2017. I put this down to rapidly increasing production. The chart does not show production levels but I think most people will acknowledge that Li battery production has been rapidly increasing over this period (with much more to come, no doubt).
Nevertheless, the chart shows that most of the decrease has already occured and while it continues through to 2030, the rate of decline is much less. In other words, the impact of increased production on production cost is now reducing, even as demand and thence production is increasing.
Since we are now observing a scramble by suppliers for Li raw material, which to me indicates a strong increase in future battery production, we need to be cautious of over-production going forward (classic supply-demand-response scenario). Too much battery production not only keeps a lid on battery prices but will result in pressures on raw material suppliers such as PLS. Currently Li suppliers are scaling up and over production of the raw material is also likely.
I guess the open question is when will the demand-supply equation move to the advantage of the buyers of Li? I think it could be sooner than many realise because existing Li miners can increase production through brownfield activity fairly quickly.
I consider PLS to be an early mover and so still good value but I guess that the substance of my post is "be careful"; we will not escape the typical boom-bust for commodities.