General Discussions, page-30237

In the age of information, disinformation is rife.
The IEA is pretty impartial, and has released a couple of relevant report updates this year on EVs and critical minerals which are well worth reading:
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-critical-minerals-outlook-2024
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024

Here are a couple of charts that demonstrate the unique position graphite and RNU can play in the clean energy revolution:





Of all the critical minerals used in lithium ion batteries, graphite is the most vulnerable to geopolitical risk, and has the lowest ESG rating.
Once the IRA stay of execution for Chinese graphite and the EU battery pass go switch clocks tick down, watch the disorganised further up the demand chain scramble to get good clean graphite.

A good time to mention, and this is an aspect IMO DC will have discussed with offtakers, is the relatively small part graphite prices play in the whole of cell picture. While the MSM headlines imply metals pricing = battery pricing, of course its way off the mark, as a battery pack has a whole lot of components and inputs required for its manufacture. Here's a couple of ways of looking at it:



So there are other just as important low hanging fruit the battery and auto makers can pluck - better BMS, more efficient manufacturing (e.g. Tesla Giga press reducing labour & parts), increasing yield/reducing dud packs (note Tesla 4680 ramp pains letting BYD pull closer in battery tech), capturing middleman margins (vertical integration, non-dealer model) etc etc.

To close, this last IEA chart counters the raw material-pack narrative showing the historical USD/kWh pack price.
Although lithium and other raw materials went ballistic in 2022, the pack price increased just 7%.
Similarly, as metals plummeted in 2023, the pack price decrease was a modest 14%.


DC holding a steady strong hand and going deep in negotiations IMO, just like Demon at Roland Garros