Breaking Down the Cost of an EV Battery Cell...

Breaking Down the Cost of an EV Battery Cell (visualcapitalist.com)

Over the past 15 years, lithium battery costs have dropped over 90%, boosting EV affordability. With LFP batteries now powering ~50% of new EVs, prices are falling, especially in China, giving them a manufacturing edge

https://x.com/EVCurveFuturist/status/1808850813592424647

....if you look at the Visual Capitalist presentation of the make up of the EV battery cost, we find that critical minerals which is mainly lithium comprise 51% of the EV battery cost.
....so over the past recent years, EV battery costs have dropped 90% largely owing to cheaper lithium and minerals input costs as well as battery maker efficiencies. LFP which now accounts for half share of the EV battery market uses less lithium than NCM, which further reduces cost.
....and this is what that powers EV growth in China, because it enabled Chinese EV makers to reach price parity with ICE vehicles and drive EV penetration aggressively, which is not happening elsewhere in the world.
....The takeaway from this: Lower lithium price and lower lithium input makes EV batteries cheaper enabling the Chinese EV makers to be able to offer their domestic consumers a lower pricing point that can facilitate a stronger EV growth. In other words, strong EV growth in China occurred courtesy or at the expense of lower and stable lithium pricing.

Citing strong EV growth statistics in China to provide the impression that that is favourable for lithium and lithium pricing is largely seeing it the wrong way. If the Chinese want EV growth to maintain current momentum, they would have to ensure that lithium price stays lower for longer due to the high weighting of lithium cost in the overall lithium-ion battery cost.
How do they perhaps do that? They lock in their lithium supplies from controlled/friendly party mines which are either vertically integrated or via opaque offtake pricing arrangements, so that surplus demand is not overflowing to affect spot pricing.