In recent years, the related mineral market has fluctuated. The price of cobalt soared to USD $94/kg in 2018 and it marked a record high trading price. The stock has been piled up since 2007, and it recorded nearly 500,000 tons of stock after 10 years. The total stock fell below 100,000 tons in 2019 and recently rebounded.
Such causes of this change can be found in the market growth of electric vehicles. The seemingly unrelated relationship among cobalt, nickel and electric vehicles is much closer than we think. Most of the key materials in secondary battery cathode materials, the key component of electric vehicles, consist of NCM. NCM is a shortened version of nickel, cobalt and manganese. In addition to NCM, there are various types of cathode materials used in secondary batteries. There are cathode materials such as ‘Lithium·Cobalt·Oxide(LCO)’ which is mainly used for secondary battery cathode materials for small devices such as smartphones, ‘Nickel·Cobalt·Aluminium(NCA)’ used in Panasonic’s secondary batteries for Tesla, and ‘Lithium·iron·Phosphate(LFP)’ which became a big issue when CATL of China was used in secondary batteries for Tesla. Lithium is used for these cathode materials which are all common raw materials. Cobalt is also common cathode materials except LFP. NCM and NCA, which have become the two pillars of cathode material for electric vehicles, commonly contain large amounts of nickel. Like this, these raw materials have become indispensable materials in the manufacture of secondary batteries.
As above, this report provides material characteristics of the major raw materials composed of cathode material for secondary batteries, key specific note for supply, and overview of demand and supply. The demand for raw materials needed in the future is calculated by combining the demand outlook for small/ESS/electric vehicles previously predicted by SNE Research. However, market volatility caused by COVID-19, which is currently a problem, are not reflected.
Hope this report will help industry officials.
Table of Contents
1. Lithium ion secondary battery
1.1 Overview of lithium ion secondary battery
1.2 Principle of lithium ion secondary battery
1.3 Structure and material of lithium ion secondary battery
1.4 Cathode material
1.5 Type of cathode material
1.6 Anode material
1.7 Material of electrode plate
1.8 Material of lead tap
1.9 Materials of Can and Cap Assembly
1.10 Pouch material
1.11 Difference in lithium content by lithium material
1.12 Electrolyte material
2. Composition and major raw material of lithium ion secondary battery
2.1 Raw materials by part/material
2.2 Composition of cathode material
2.3 Content of major raw materials for cathode material
2.4 Content ratio (%) of major raw materials for cathode material
3. Importance of raw materials
3.1 Scarcity of raw materials
3.2 Recycling of raw materials
3.3 Correlation between lithium batteries and raw materials
3.4 Ubiquity of raw materials in the burial area
3.5 Ubiquity of raw materials in production country
3.6 Ubiquity of raw materials in production company
4. Raw material content per cell of battery
4.1 Raw material content per cell of battery – Small type
4.2 Raw material content per cell of battery – 18650 cylindrical type
4.3 Raw material content per cell of battery – 21700 cylindrical type
4.4 Raw material content per cell of battery – Square shape PHEV type
4.5 Raw material content per cell of battery – Square shape BEV type
4.6 Raw material content per cell of battery – Pouch type
4.7 Raw material content per cell of battery
4.8 Raw material content per WH of battery
4.9 Raw material content of an electric motor vehicle
5. Outlook of electric vehicle market and raw material demand
5.1 Outlook of global electric vehicle market (’18~’30)
5.2 Outlook of battery for electric vehicle market (’18~’30)
5.3 Outlook of battery production extension for electric vehicle (’18~’30)
5.4 Outlook of cathode material demand (for electric vehicle, ’18~’30)
5.5 Outlook of cathode material demand (for ESS, ’18~’30)
5.6 Outlook of cathode material demand (for small type, ’18~’30)
5.7 Outlook of lithium demand (for lithium ion battery, ’18~’30)
5.8 Outlook of cobalt demand (for lithium ion battery, ’18~’30)
5.9 Outlook of nickel demand (for lithium ion battery, ’18~’30)
5.10 Outlook of manganese demand (for lithium ion battery, ’18~’30)
6. SCM of major material of cathode material
6.1 SCM Structure by precursor type for cathode material (LCO)
6.2 SCM Structure by precursor type for cathode material (NCM111)
6.3 SCM Structure by precursor type for cathode material (NCM523)
6.4 SCM Structure by precursor type for cathode material (NCM622)
6.5 SCM Structure by precursor type for cathode material (NCM811)
6.6 SCM Structure by precursor type for cathode material (NCA)
7. Lithium
7.1 Overview of lithium
7.2 Major resource country of lithium
7.3 Major burial country of lithium
7.4 Major production country of lithium
7.5 Major production site and company of lithium
7.6 Lithium triangle
7.7 Lithium mine in Western Australia
7.8 Chinese Lithium production site
7.9 Lithium used in lithium secondary batteries
7.10 Major lithium production /development project
7.11 Major lithium development project
7.12 Quota system of lithium production - Atacama
7.13 Price trend of lithium carbonate
7.14 Outlook of lithium demand (‘18~’30)
7.15 Outlook of lithium supply (’18~’25)
7.16 Outlook of lithium demand/supply (’18~’25)
7.17 Outlook of Price of lithium carbonate (’18~’25)
7.18 Efforts to supply and demand lithium carbonate; Tesla/BYD/CATL/Toyota/CITIC/Optimum
8. Cobalt
8.1 Overview of cobalt
8.2 Major burial country of cobalt
8.3 Major production country of cobalt
8.4 Production method of cobalt
8.5 Major production company of cobalt
8.6 Details of major production company of cobalt
8.7 Price trend of cobalt
8.8 Cobalt used in lithium secondary batteries
8.9 Outlook of cobalt demand (’18~’30)
8.10 New cobalt development project
8.11 New cobalt exploration project
8.12 Entering/ expand of cobalt business of mining companies
8.13 Issues of Democratic Republic of the Congo
8.14 Outlook of cobalt supply (’18~’25)
8.15 Outlook of cobalt demand/supply (’18~’25)
8.16 Outlook of cobalt price (’18~’25)
8.17 The mining law amendment of Democratic Republic of the Congo
8.18 China Molybdenum’s acquisition of Freeport shares
8.19 Umicore’s acquisition of cobalt smelting factory of Freeport cobalt company
8.20 Shanshan’s share investment of China Molybdenum
8.21 Reorganize structure of Ambatovy consortium shared]
8.22 Glencore’s decision to close Mutanda mine for 2 years
8.23 Cobalt supply tripartite agreement of Glencore, VW and CATL
9. Nickel
9.1 Overview of nickel
9.2 Type of nickel gemstone
9.3 Major burial country by nickel type
9.4 Major burial country of nickel
9.5 Major production country of nickel
9.6 Major production company of nickel
9.7 Details of major production company of nickel
9.8 Nickel production company in Philippines
9.9 Ban on raw ore exports in Indonesia
9.10 Depletion of the northern hemisphere sulfide ore reserves
9.11 Nickel product type
9.12 Nickel used in secondary batteries
9.13 Nickel used in lithium secondary batteries
9.14 Price trend of nickel
9.15 Outlook of nickel (’18~’30)
9.16 Outlook of nickel supply (’18~’25)
9.17 Outlook of nickel demand/supply (’18~’25)
9.18 Outlook of nickel price (’18~’25)
9.19 Nickel supply for secondary batteries
9.20 Outlook of nickel demand/supply for secondary batteries (’18~’25)
9.21 Trend of nickel stock
10. Manganese
10.1 Overview of manganese
10.2 Major burial country of manganese
10.3 Major production country of manganese