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Eye on Lithium: Global EV sales were 7.8 million in 2022, and we haven’t even reached tipping point yet

All your lithium news on Thursday, January 19.

Global electric vehicles sales hit a 10% market share for the first time in 2022, according to fresh research from LMC Automotive and EV-Volumes.com.
Total global sales of full EVs totalled around 7.8 million units, an increase of 68% from the previous year, the analysis says, driven mainly by strong growth in China and Europe.

Ralf Brandstätter, the head of Volkswagen AG’s China business, told reporters at the Wall Street Journal on Friday that electric vehicles would continue expanding fast and that China could soon reach a point where sales of conventional vehicles begin to permanently decline as plug-in vehicles take bigger market share.

“Last year, every fourth vehicle we sold in China was a plug-in, and this year it will be every third auto,” Mr. Brandstätter said.


“We haven’t reached the tipping point yet, but we’re expecting to get there between 2025 and 2030.”
Meanwhile, prices for lithium chemicals in the Chinese domestic market continued to fall between January 11 – 18 as cathode manufacturers started to wind down operations ahead of the Spring Festival.
According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI), downstream manufacturers who were still operating “looked to work through inventory” rather than purchase new material, pressuring prices under stagnant demand.
Going forward, BMI notes the supply chain is positive about the demand picture from the stationary energy storage market, which may buoy lithium demand in 2023, even if the EV industry is weaker than anticipated.

We should see Lithium prices start to move up again in mid to late February when inventory replenishments commence.