RANKED: Top 15 large SUVs and trucks by battery nickel, cobalt and manganese deployed
Globally, 2024 was a record year for plug-in hybrid and full electric vehicle sales, battery capacity and battery metals deployed.
Worldwide growth of PHEVs and BEVs hit a solid 27% year over year in 2024 with 17.5 million units shipped across all vehicle segments.
The standouts of calendar 2024 were large pickup trucks and SUVs (segments SUV-E, SUV-F and PUP-E) where battery pack sales surged by 56%, coming up just short of 2 million units.
Large pickups and SUVs – exemplified by the Li Auto L7 in China, Ford F-150 Lightning in North America and Audi Q8 e-tron in Europe – are also significant consumers of metals thanks to large batteries and by extension contained metal.
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries were responsible for 40% of total capacity deployed worldwide in 2024 (and in China a full 58%), but the cathode chemistry plays a smaller role in large SUVs and pickup trucks, where it accounts for 20% in GWh terms.
Automakers often choose nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) packs to power these bulky equipment and people haulers to benefit from higher energy density and power delivery.
NCM and NCA batteries also perform better than LFP packs in cold weather, but that gap has been closing as cell suppliers continue to improve the latter technology.
Lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate (LMFP) batteries show up in the Adamas Inside ranking thanks to Luxeed’s R7, a premium brand owned by Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and Chery, even though the SUV only went on sale in the final quarter of last year. The R7 comes fitted with a mid-nickel battery pack made by CALB or an LMFP pack manufactured by CATL.
Nickel-rich batteries also help to keep curb weight down which explains why makers of PHEVs and range extender EVs or EREVs (where the combustion engine acts as a generator only) often opt for the cathode. No fewer than four of the top six in the ranking are EREVs, three of which are from Li Auto.
Li Auto, which until last year only produced EREVs, can take much of the credit for the rise in the popularity of this type of plug-in. The Beijing-based group grew battery capacity deployed in 2024 by 44% placing it at no 8 globally in GWh terms.
Li Auto raised $1.1 billion when it listed on the US Nasdaq bourse in 2020, and after a 20% lift so far in 2025 is now worth $28.2 billion in New York.
That’s not far off Korean rival Hyundai Motor Group (no 6 globally when measuring 2024 battery capacity deployed) which announced ambitious plans in September to enter the EREV space.
Contact the Adamas team to learn more or check out the intelligence services below.
