Large and sports EV battery metals demand surges
Utility, purpose and performance The rise of the SUV as the go-to choice for car buyers is a multi-decade phenomenon and while many automakers like to claim the title of being first, the SUV as we know it today probably originated with the 1984 Jeep Cherokee. Since then, the segment has morphed into various...
Utility, purpose and performance
The rise of the SUV as the go-to choice for car buyers is a multi-decade phenomenon and while many automakers like to claim the title of being first, the SUV as we know it today probably originated with the 1984 Jeep Cherokee.
Since then, the segment has morphed into various forms including crossover coupes (a concept which would’ve been considered oxymoronic not that long ago) and has been taken up by marques like Lamborghini and Ferrari, which frankly should have no business making cars with “utility” in the description.
New-fangled MPVs or minivans (sometimes and rather redundantly referred to as people carriers) are also proliferating and growing in popularity, especially in Asia, where buyers increasingly demand living rooms on wheels in anticipation of autonomous driving.
Add full-sized pick-ups like the Ford F-150, which has been the bestselling vehicle when considering all shapes and sizes in the US for more than 40 years, and the global passenger vehicle market appears to have fully adopted the bigger-is-better point of view.
NCM living large
As the electric vehicle market continues to mature, it’s more closely resembling the broader auto industry and when it comes to vehicle size, EV enthusiasts are embracing the bulk-up trend with even greater gusto.
Electrified cars, SUVs, MPVs and pickups in the top size segments (E and F) and sport and specialty cars (SS) are gobbling up lithium and graphite at three-times the rate of the overall market, and for nickel, cobalt and manganese, nearly four-times.
Large and performance EVs are more frequently equipped with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cells than their lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) counterparts.
Data from the Adamas Battery Metals Intel Platform shows that LFP captured 35% of the global market from January through May of this year based on the combined battery capacity (GWh) deployed in all newly sold EVs across all segments.
When considering segments E, F and SS alone (the latter being a small but growing bracket that includes the likes of the Rolls Royce Spectre and Ferrari Stradale), LFP constituted a lower 25% of total battery capacity deployed, speaking to NCM’s enduring popularity in these segments.
This is also true in China where LFP’s share clocks in at 37% for these segments alone compared to 53% for the overall EV market during the first five months of the year.
More than one in four
Whereas overall nickel consumption increased by 15% from January through May to 115,704 tonnes, nickel consumption for the E, F and SS segments specifically surged by 60% over the same period to 31,758 tonnes. Notably, newly sold large EVs made up 27% of global EV battery nickel consumption during the five-month span versus less than 20% during the same period last year.
The same pattern can be seen for cobalt and manganese where total consumption grew by 17% and 19% respectively for all EV types combined versus 68% and 70% growth for large cars, SUVs, MPVs and pickups.
With 5,927 tonnes consumed through the first five months of 2024, these segments drove 26% of all EV battery cobalt demand during the period, up from 18% the same period the year prior. For manganese, the change in proportional figures was similar.