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Electric vehicle manufacturers can purchase the batteries produced by specialised brands (Panasonic, LG Energy Solutions, CATL, etc.), although some, such as TESLA, have begun to install their own plants that work with the technology provided by one of these brands.
Most of the raw lithium is extracted from ore in Australia and from brine in Chile, but refining to obtain the product for use in batteries takes place mainly in China, which currently accounts for more than 75% of global processing capacity. There are proposals to encourage developed countries to set up plants to refine lithium ore to the necessary hydroxide or carbonate, but there does not yet seem to be a response.
Since 2020, when lithium prices reached record highs, they have fallen through 2023 and remained low in the first months of 2024. Prices of other key battery metals have also declined, especially as electric vehicle sales growth has fallen in most global markets. Analysts predict that battery costs for electric vehicles are likely to fall by 40% between 2022 and 2025, bringing their prices closer to those of internal combustion vehicles and increasing demand.
Not only did lithium peak in price in 2020 or 2021, but so did cobalt, which has also fallen since then. This commodity, obtained mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, carries the stigma of production associated with child labour and human rights abuses. Many EVs have high cobalt battery types, although research is focused on achieving the same performance with manganese and aluminium variants. Phosphorous-based types (LFP) are a promising avenue for increased competitiveness.