Primarily driven by the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles, the production of lithium-ion batteries has spiked, raising the demand for cobalt—a cause of despair rather than prosperity in the African nation of Congo, where the metal is mined amid horrendous circumstances. “I remember looking at this destroyed landscape and these thousands of bodies laboring over…

Electric vehicle battery prices are increasing as the cost of raw materials, especially lithium, is rebounding after a decade of price reductions following a radical growth in the electrification of vehicles by major manufacturers and subsequent hike in demand. The biggest battery manufacturer in the world is China, where the benchmark price of lithium carbonate…

Car manufacturers are finding it increasingly pricier to manufacture electric vehicles (EV) as the costs of procuring lithium, one of the main components found in every commercial EV battery, has shot up almost 280 percent since the start of the year. The demand for electric vehicles has pushed up demand for the metal, and supply…

News Analysis Global supply chain interruptions are exacerbated by China’s lock on chemical processing. In 1987, former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said, “The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths.” It seems that decades ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had already recognized the importance of controlling raw materials. Beyond mining and extraction, China’s…

South Australia is set to become the host of the world’s biggest battery equipped with the ability to support an all-renewables electrical grid. Australia’s energy retailer kingpin, AGL, has announced Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä will be heading the construction of its new $180 million (US$130 million), 250 megawatt (MW) grid battery—the first of a planned 850…