• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 1 hour GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 4 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 6 hours If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 4 days Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 5 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
  • 19 hours Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
  • 4 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)
Gold Prices Soar Past $2,150 After Bullish Rally

Gold Prices Soar Past $2,150 After Bullish Rally

Precious metal prices experienced a…

MINING.com

MINING.com

MINING.com is a web-based global mining publication focusing on news and commentary about mining and mineral exploration. The site is a one-stop-shop for mining industry…

More Info

Lithium Under Fire As EV Sales Slump

Electric car pioneer Tesla is already producing units on a trial basis at its giant Shanghai gigafactory despite only breaking ground this year, but thanks to changes to the Chinese EV subsidy program, demand for locally-made Teslas may fall short of expectations.

On Monday, China’s automobile manufacturing industry body said fewer new energy vehicles, or NEVs as they are termed domestically, could be sold this year than in 2018 (last year sales boomed by more than 60 percent).

Sales of NEVs – which apart from battery-powered vehicles also include hybrids and fuel cell cars – fell by more than 45 percent in October from the same month last year, adding to the woes of an industry coping with 16 straight months of declining overall sales.

Adamas Intelligence tracks the battery capacity (and the metals used in them) of electric vehicles sold around the world and the slowdown in the EV market, where lithium-ion batteries dominate, has already shown up in raw material deployment data.

In September 2019, the average new passenger EV including plug-in and conventional hybrids sold globally contained 12.2 kilograms of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), a modest increase of 4 percent over 2018, according to the latest Adamas report.

The Toronto-based research company’s data shows China still outstripped global growth in September with a 7 percent increase in LCE on a per-EV basis, reaching a sales-weighted average of just shy of 20kg thanks to the prevalence of full-electric models in the country.

That’s in stark contrast to Japan, where hybrids represent more than 90 percent of EV sales and average batteries contain only 1.1kg of LCE. Changes to China’s EV incentive program favour hybrids so lithium loads may start to tend downwards in that country too.

Related: Four Ways Oil Has Made Our Lives Better

The changing mix of EV sales is most noticeable in Europe where the average battery in new passenger EVs sold in September contained 15.8kg of LCE.

That constitutes a 57 percent surge compared to last year, thanks in no small part to the popularity of the Tesla Model 3 on the continent. Teslas have always had bigger batteries than competitor cars to help with fast-charging and range.

ADVERTISEMENT

In the US the trend is in the opposite direction – with passenger EVs leaving showrooms containing on average 15.2kg of LCE, 12 percent less than in September 2018.

By Mining.com 

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:



Join the discussion | Back to homepage



Leave a comment

Leave a comment

EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News