Cobalt is on the edge of a significant demand spike as batteries become an increasingly common part of our lives, driven by the rise of renewables. “In the coming years, as we see more penetration of renewables in society, we’ll need more batteries to efficiently dispatch that energy,” says Cobalt Blue’s CEO, Joe Kaderavek. “The unfortunate thing with renewables is they generate when you least need them – for instance solar generates most of its load in the middle of the day, yet peak demand is in the morning/evening. Society now has the ability to shift that generation using batteries.”Another interesting catalyst for cobalt’s rise is also, in fact, the pandemic. While at its peak it had a detrimental impact on the price of cobalt, a renewed push for EVs also came out of the outbreak as a result of government purchase subsidies. While an unprecedented positive effect, it bodes extremely well for the cobalt industry.“The EV subsidies that the EU announced in April were so generous that they made the whole issue of cost-competition between petrol and electric vehicles obsolete,” says Kaderavek. “Covid-19 became an accidental catalyst for boosting EVs and therefore battery materials.” QUOTE COB on the rise IMO
