The rise in the sale of electric cars is going to lead to an increase in the demand for Lithium-ion cell and battery packs. As Lithium-ion is vital for the batteries for electric vehicles, additional raw materials will be required and already there is an increase in mining for lithium in the Australian outback. Already prices of lithium carbonate have risen by close to 50% and according to Citigroup, there will have been a 64% rise between 2015 and 2020.
Pibara Minerals Executive Director Neil Biddle told Bloomberg that there is an enormous demand due to the increase of electric buses, cars, trucks and bikes. There are three sources of lithium – mining, recycling and also it is produced when brine in salt ponds evaporate. Mining is by far the most expensive but quicker – and that is often the primary factor.
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All this is good news for the miners although their enthusiasm may be too high as China was considered to lead the rise in demand. They are aiming for 5 million “new energy” vehicles to be in use by 2020, and these will all be electric, hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell. Nanjing has seen the building of a new plant where each year there will be 50,000 battery packs produced.
The downside in China is that subsidies will be phased out, but good news for Australian miners is that Tesla wants to be producing half a million such cars a year by 2020.
Photo Credit: Juan Moseinco/IPS
