Five major metals used in NMC style batteries are:
Lithium Hydroxide or Lithium Carbonate (highly variable and currently under $15k/t but spiked to $80k/t)
Nickel (Moderately variable just below $20k/t has spiked to near $35k/t)
Cobalt (Moderately variable around $24k/t but it did reach $80k/t)
Copper (Relative to the others above, stable at just under $10k/t)
High Purity Manganese sulphate (E25's business case used ~$2.5k/t)
Batteries use a range of metals with price tag's of $10k to $20k/t in a normal pricing environment. Several have seen spikes to $30-$50k+/ton. Whether HPMSM is $1.5k, $2.0k or $2.5k/t is not going to materially alter the final price of batteries. There will of course be pressure to provide a cheaper price and that won't go away however ultimately any sensible price can be afforded if they can use metals with 10x higher price tag's. Noting Lithium Hydroxide and HPMSM have high purity requirements but aren't pure metals, HPMSM is by far the cheapest of the list above.
I suspect therefore the number one priority for battery makers will be the purity of the product followed by the security of supply.
E25 Price at posting:
29.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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