In the current year, as demand for metals increases like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and magnesium, but supply is less due to the constraint of the availability of raw materials, the lithium industry needs new investment projects till 2024 to meet the demand from Electrical Vehicles (EVs).
Cutting lithium from lithium-ion batteries is one of the most desired sectors for investment. Ascend Elements has announced an investment plan of $310 million for Kentucky’s sustainable lithium-ion battery materials facility. It will use a Hydro to Cathode direct technology, which has natural chemistry for new cathode active material from used lithium-ion cells than conventional methodologies. Ascend will manufacture lithium-ion battery precursor and recycled content cathode material for 250,000 Electrical Vehicles annually.
Experts opinion that nickel needs to experiment with as a substitute for cobalt because cobalt prices have surged in the last three years or since 2018. To reduce the cost of production, dire need to shift to less cobalt-intensive battery methodologies or without cobalt.
Nickel is also favorable due to its recycling. Nickel is used to producing stainless steel and recycled back at mills worldwide. Aqua Metals is one of the leading companies using piloting technology to make a nickel from used batteries. A forecast is that nickel demand for lithium-ion batteries will increase by 567% by 2025 because these batteries are more valuable for extracting copper, lithium, and nickel from the lithium-ion black mass, which is obtained through the shredded material of used batteries. Demand for EV batteries is increasing, and economies struggle to increase self-reliance by building their supply chain.
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