RE: Moving Forward30 Mar 2018 11:06
Also, Umicore (in Belgium) and Byd (in China) are gearing up to recycle Li in old batteries (Byd open a factory this week). That's good. We don't want the price of Li to be too high as that will stymy the uptake of EVs... the battery cost is the most expensive part (a diesel Golf in the US is $22k whilst the EV equivalent is $30k). Most price forecasts are saying the price of Li will eventually settle at about $10k. But these are the same forecasters who, as Fingers points out, seem to be underestimating applications and demand. If $10k is the lowest anticipated price, with underestimated demand, we're laughing.
It's tech that will change things. Denser batteries. Li metal batteries etc. In other words, smaller batteries for the same job. But they will still be Li. And as EV prices therefore drop, demand will rise, maintaining that $10k bottom line.