Lithium Suppliers Can’t Keep Up With Demand This past January, Tesla began mass producing lithium-ion battery cells at its 1.9-million-square-foot Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada. With Panasonic's cooperation, the company expects to produce a mind-boggling 35 gigawatts of battery power a year by 2018, or about as much as the rest of the world's current battery capacity combined. (A gigawatt, by the way, is equal to one billion watts.).
Cofounded in 2003 by serial entrepreneur and all-around genius Elon Musk, Tesla is arguably the world's leading company involved in the production of energy storage units. But it's certainly not the only one. China's CATL, or Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd., is quickly gaining ground and plans to surpass Tesla in terms of battery production by 2020. By that year, close to 85 percent of all lithium-ion batteries in the world will be produced in either the U.S. or China, according to Goldman Sachs, which sees the battery market climbing to $40 billion by 2025.
On a global scale, nearly 40 percent of all lithium supply is used in the production of batteries, including those that power battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
It should come as no surprise, then, that lithium demand is being driven, as it were, by BEVs, sales of which are expected to rise from 0.3 million in 2015 to 11 million by 2025, according to Morningstar. And by 2040, BEV sales could hit 41 million, representing 35 percent of all new automobile sales, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Expected sales of electric and hybrid vehicles to push lithium demand growth 16 percent annually over the next decade, faster than almost any major commodity over the past century, from about 175,000 metric tons in 2015 to about 775,000 by 2025,.
Each electric vehicle uses roughly 28,000 grams of lithium in its battery, about 4,000 times as much as the seven grams used in a smartphone. Each hybrid uses roughly 1,900 grams, approximately 270 times as much as a smartphone.
( Electric cars and hybrids also require more copper than conventional vehicles. The Tesla Model 3 uses three times as much copper wiring than a vehicle with an internal combustion engine.).
The experts estimate that lithium supply will struggle to keep pace with growing demand in the coming years, resulting in a 105,000-metric ton deficit by 2025. This supply-demand imbalance could raise the price of lithium significantly, "from $6,500 per metric ton currently to $10,000 by 2020," writes Wang.
Who Are The Beneficiaries?
World lithium production is currently dominated by four companies: North Carolina-based Albemarle, Philadelphia-based FMC Corporation, Chile's Sociedad Qumica y Minera and China's Tianqi Lithium. Among these, Albemarle has the highest exposure to lithium, according to Morningstar. Just this month, the company raised its lithium demand forecast by the end of the decade, saying demand will grow by 30,000 metric tons a year, up from an earlier forecast of 20,000 metric tons.
For 12 months now, lithium stocks have been on a steady uptrend, outpacing their 200-day moving average.
A new industry player One World Minerals (OWM.C) has entered the Lithium market with a recent acquisition of a large Mexican Lithium brine project named Rico Litio, located in the Baja Mexico region. www.oneworldminerals.ca