EV battery nickel deployment in Asia Pacific falls for the first time

The batteries of EVs, including plug-in and conventional hybrids, sold over the first nine months of the year contained 257.7 kt of nickel, up 13% from January-September 2024, after a record-breaking third quarter.

However, nickel deployment growth for the period fell well short of overall battery capacity deployed which totaled 759.0 GWh, a 26% expansion, and new EV registrations which rose by 24% to 20.8 million. 

Over January-September 2025, nickel deployment across Asia Pacific fell for the first time, declining by 1% to 97.0 kt setting up the region for its first ever down year. Even in calendar 2020 during the height of the pandemic, Asia Pacific recorded year-on-year percentage growth of nearly 10% in nickel deployed. Despite the slight fallback this year, the region nevertheless accounted for a full 38% of the global total, although that is down from 43% last year.