EV/Lithium, page-15

....we can only understand this if we understand China's form of capitalism - which is 'common prosperity' for collective national good.
....by suppressing the battery cost, China would be able to produce cheaper EVs than the rest of the world, cementing its superiority in the EV global market.
....it comes at the expense of CATL, but CATL is also thinking for the national good.
....now, if Australia thinks likewise, we wouldn't have BHP selling its iron ore to China at $100/T for China to produce the structural steel that we would onward import from China....we have plentiful of iron ore and coal to make steel for our construction industry, if only BHP would sell it cheaper for say Bluescope Steel to produce those structural steel our construction industry needs instead of importing them at half a billion dollars a year...but that requires BHP to forgo high profit margins (cost at just $15/T) so Australian consumers can enjoy a better price.
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There is a lot of talk about falling battery prices. For example, there are reports of LFP batteries from CATL dropping to 56 $/kWh.You would think that’s great, no? After all we need cheaper batteries for better electric vehicle adoption and renewable energy transition.

But that’s missing the point of price reduction. We need battery prices to be cheaper as a consequence of their cheaper manufacturing.

The current price reduction is due to oversupply. CATL is clearing their inventory in a bid to capture a larger market share at a loss. Check these two quotes from the article below: “Power batteries have gone from being in tight supply to being in oversupply in a year's time, and prices are now gradually dropping towards RMB 0.3/Wh, the report said.”

“Some in the battery industry believe that price would leave battery makers with no profit, but in a competitive market, it is possible for them to gain market share at a loss, according to the report.”

This is not a profitable approach and it is not sustainable. The prices will have to go back up


https://x.com/smajicdr/status/1776698743745610062