A nice tight snapshot of what's what from Reuters:
Global supplies of lithium used to make electric vehicle (EV) batteries will fall short of projections for demand to more than triple by 2025 if prices do not rebound to fund expansions, an executive at industry leader Albemarle Corp said on Tuesday.
The warning laid bare the tension emerging in the EV industry between the companies that supply the lithium crucial for battery development and automakers who are hunting for discounts.
Prices for lithium dropped last year due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, forcing Albemarle and peers to pause expansions, a step they will reverse only if the price is right, Eric Norris, who runs Albemarle’s lithium business, told the Reuters Next conference.
“We’re at the ready to expand, but it’s got to be at terms that make sense,” Norris said.
Global lithium supply and demand at the end of last year was nearly even, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. By 2025, though, demand is expected to outstrip supply by nearly 228,000 tonnes....
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