Lithium Demand surge, page-1208

A milestone moment . Electric cars and bus's will overtake consumer electronics THIS YEAR as the largest source of lithium-ion battery demand. Source: Bloomberg energy finance 6/6/2018

My take: To analyse the above fact (according to Bloomberg's number crunchers) it has to be pointed out that they have not included lithium peaker batteries or home battery storage as part of the stated resource use in their equation. If we take them (Bloomberg) at their word that it is only electric cars and bus's that have caused lithium battery demand (in gigawatt hours) to overtake consumer electronics, then clearly that threshold was crossed some time ago. While it could be that their above statement was poorly worded and lacked clarity, I doubt this to be the case. As with most big name analysists they tend to lose track of the dynamic change in the lithium space and fail to include many of the most obvious uses for batteries, which are currently employed - thus their analysis is often flawed - or conservative to the point of distraction.
On further investigation Bloomberg also asserts, on the same basis of cars, bus's and consumer electronics, that last year (2017) the total lithium-ion battery use was 41 gigawatt hours. I put it to the reader that this figure is also grossly understated/miscalculated, given the same non-inclusion of peaker and home batteries - not to mention the omission of the myriad other battery uses, such as E- bikes and scooters in the millions (already on the road) and other EV variants currently in use.
That said, ignoring their omission's, they (Bloomberg), again on the same miscalculation of cars and bus's only, contend that by 2030 we will require 1,500 gigawatt hours of battery power for said cars and bus's. So that's an increase of circa 125 gigawatt hours per year required for the for the next 12 years. Or roughly an increase of 3 X the current annual use of 41 gigawatts per year for the following 12 years.

In any case, I see this 2030 figure of 1,500 gigawatts (as large as it is) as fundamentally flawed, given not only have they omitted peaker and a home storage along with other EV variants, they have also failed to factor in developments and battery uses over that 12 year period in other sectors, like planes, shipping and the agricultural sector - to name but a few.

Conversely, I see this gross underestimation of gigawatt hours in the form of lithium batteries required (as I see it) as a good thing - because we are probably going to need twice as much lithium by 2030 as anyone predicts. And in anyone's book NEED=DEMAND