Some (EV enthusiasts) say that anti-EV propaganda is to blame for the increasingly poorer uptake of EVs (despite continued growth) due to mis-information on EVs.
That may be a reason, but this reason is due to ideology- the Trumpers especially who see things in the us vs them lens perspective see ICE vs EV in similar manner. Which I think is pure nonsense - ideology should have nothing to do with it. But unfortunately that's how a certain quarter has become.
However, I put the blame largely on the EV makers themselves. Why is that? I think it all started when the Chinese EV makers and then Tesla started cutting EV prices rather materially in what some see as a sign of desperation. It is human psychology that when you see that the product you want to buy keeps dropping in price/value, you tend to pause and wait - wait to see if it can continue to fall more and because they are still relatively expensive, they can come down a lot more. Because most who seek to find out start to know how cheap the Chinese get to buy their EVs in their domestic market- while BYD sells them a lot more outside of China. And so the Chinese EV growth is driven by the incredibly cheap price because they have to produce a lot to get economies of scale to lower their per unit cost, so they flood the Chinese market and the Govt encourage their citizens to buy local EV makes, to keep people employed. But outside of China, everyone sees EV prices only getting lower and with time, even better EVs with more features are introduced at great value, so there's no hurry to buy them. In addition, many have come across to know that second hand Teslas have literally lost a big chunk of its resale value as Tesla cuts prices. So early adopters rightfully felt 'cheated' buying too early.
The more affluent who wanted to flaunt their EVs would have probably purchased them. The more practical affluent who have yet to buy them might be tempted to wait out for a better deal ahead. While the non-affluent still can't afford the price tag of the average EVs, so it remains outside their reach. And this is the major reason why there has been a loss of momentum in sales growth- the charging infrastructure and battery issue (coldness etc) are also other considerations but probably does not weigh as significantly.
It is a reason why I stated early on that an industry that starts to undertake price-slashing in a competitive way is not in a healthy state.
Ironically, as I opined, it is the outcome of a much lower battery mineral (lithium, nickel) price that served as an enabler for the industry (in China) to lower the price of their EVs to get the growth they are able to garner in their domestic market.
So here's the equation the Chinese EV industry were able to employ:
Low Battery Mineral Price = Low Battery Cost + Increase EV Production = Reduced EV Cost per unit = Reduced EV Price for China Domestic Market = Large China EV Uptake & Sales = Ability to Flood Export Market with Cheaper (but not Cheap) EVs (cars sold in export market at premium over what they are sold domestically) provider EV makers with the margin to cover lower margin in domestic sales.
And that's China central plan strategy to take the global EV market by storm.
With China remaining #1 in global EV, lithium price will remain reasonably priced.
LTR sells its offtake to Tesla/Ford based on a formula that takes the spot price into account- so it is not in the position to auction them. What ALB is able to do to auction their lithium at a higher than spot price does not affect LTR. Spot pricing would continue to be controlled by the Chinese.
PLS can auction its lithium at better than spot price but they sell to the Chinese. And with the Chinese getting more of their lithium from Africa at cheaper prices, that would be what PLS needs to price its output to be competitive.
All that talk about ESG requirements that set Australian lithium apart - well, the Chinese don't care about ESG. European lithium demand won't figure much for Aussie lithium within 1-2 years of winter hibernation.
