BOULDER, Colo. – As the demand for electric vehicles has grown, the price of lithium, which, when combined with zeolite, allows oxygen concentrators to generate oxygen at purity levels of 90% or higher, is experiencing significant increases, according to a bulletin from Quality Biomedical.
Lithium is a key component of the batteries used in EVs and certain sieve beds of oxygen concentrators.
“As the demand for EVs has increased, the price of lithium is experiencing significant increases, nearly 4x from the end of 2021 to now,” wrote CEO PK Bala in an email to customers. “Hence, the cost of sieve beds containing zeolite and lithium is rising.”
Quality Biomedical says the largest U.S. supplier of zeolite has announced a 40% increase in prices for the compound, effective immediately, prompting the company to analyze and negotiate with sieve bed vendors to minimize the impact on providers.
“We will work hard to be the best service partner we can be to you,” Bala wrote. “You may recall in 2021 and 2022, when gas and labor costs increased substantially, we did not adjust pricing but instead absorbed those cost increases and drove internal productivity improvements to mitigate those increases. While this 40% cost increase is very substantial, we will do our very best to minimize its impact on your business.”
Quality Biomedical plans to contact providers to discuss the impact on them.