EREV popularity boosts cobalt use
In the third quarter of 2024, a total of 15,401 tonnes of cobalt were deployed onto roads globally in the batteries of all newly sold passenger EVs combined, just under 3% more than the same quarter last year, according to Adamas Intelligence data.
The Tesla Model Y led the pack in Q3 by a large margin with 974 tonnes deployed onto roads worldwide, up 7% over the same quarter last year.
The less-than-stellar cobalt deployment in the global bestseller is explained by the popularity of the entry-level Model Ys sold in China which sport LFP packs.
The market share of LFP-powered EVs in China is on a steady upward trend representing just short of 60% of GWh deployed during the third quarter.
Global cobalt deployment received a fillip from the growing popularity of EREVs (or extended range EVs) – a type of PHEV in which the internal combustion engine acts solely as a generator for the battery.
The AITO M9 EREV – a brand produced by the Seres Group in partnership with telco Huawei – claimed second place in Q3 2024 with 360 tonnes of cobalt rolled onto roads.
The M9 full-size extended range SUV, introduced to the Chinese market at the start of the year, finished just in front of its M7 stablemate, also an EREV, which saw its combined cobalt deployment surge five-fold compared the same quarter the year prior.
The AITO range, which also includes the smaller M5, are mostly powered by NCM 5-Series packs containing roughly twice as much cobalt as an NCM 8-Series equivalent.
In fourth place, the Zeekr 001 steered 348 tonnes of cobalt onto roads globally in Q3, a 22% increase over the same period last year for the luxury shooting-brake style SUV.
Despite dropping its cobalt use by 34%, the GAC Aion Y crossover took fifth place in Q3 while its stablemate, the Aion S Plus sedan, landed in tenth behind another EREV: Li Auto’s L7, which upped deployment by 28%.
Li Auto is an EREV specialist with only one BEV in its lineup and was an exclusive NCM user before the introduction of its compact L6 crossover during Q2 this year.
The Chinese company opted for an LFP battery for the L6, which represented 40% of all GWh deployed by Li Auto models during Q3.
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Image credit: Robert – stock.adobe.com
