Recently, General Motors announced that it has finalized a long-term supply contract with the mining giant Glencore, one of the main raw materials for power batteries, metal cobalt, in order to reduce the risk of insufficient supply of raw materials for the company's electric vehicles. In the same week, Ford and Tesla also "locked" lithium resources one after another, and Tesla founder Musk even publicly stated that he would directly participate in the mining. At a time when the prices of lithium, cobalt, nickel and other battery metals are rising again and again, international auto production giants are increasingly worried about the shortage of raw material supply, and the pace of auto manufacturers' search for mines is accelerating.
While GM has not disclosed details of its raw material supply contract with Glencore, the company has released production plans to spend billions of dollars in electric vehicle production over the next 10 years and achieve 1 million electric vehicles by 2025 Car sales target.
In addition to General Motors, Ford, also an old American car company, is also looking for raw materials for power batteries. According to information released by Ford, it has signed a preliminary agreement with Argentine miner Lake Resources to use a relatively new technology to extract lithium metal from salt lakes in Argentina for electric vehicle production. According to Reuters, Ford plans to buy 25,000 tons of lithium a year from the Salt Lake project in Argentina, and according to Ford's announced plans, the company will complete the sale of 2 million electric vehicles by 2026.
What's more, Tesla, the largest electric vehicle manufacturer in the United States, is no longer satisfied with signing a mineral supply agreement, and even plans to directly mine. Tesla founder Musk publicly stated: "If lithium prices continue to rise, Tesla is likely to directly start a large-scale lithium mine development and refining business." It is understood that this is the first time Musk has expressed his entry into lithium mines two years ago. After the willingness, Tesla officially put the mining of lithium mines on the agenda. Musk believes that the reason why lithium prices are high is precisely because the mining and refining progress of lithium mines is too slow. Previously, the U.S. Department of the Interior also issued a geological survey report saying that lithium mines are distributed in many places in the United States, and lithium resources are relatively sufficient.
Abundant resources have not prevented lithium prices from soaring due to soaring demand. Industry analysts pointed out that the rapid rise in demand for electric vehicles has significantly exceeded market expectations, and it has exceeded the speed of new production capacity of metal minerals.
According to data released by the industry organization "Benchmark Mineral Intelligence", since March 2021, the annual price increase of lithium carbonate, the main raw material of power batteries, has reached 465.2%, and the price of lithium hydroxide has increased by more than 526%. The monthly increase in the price of lithium hydroxide was as high as 15%, and the monthly increase in the price of lithium hydroxide was as high as 32.5%.
In addition, the prices of nickel and cobalt have also "exploded by leaps and bounds". In March, the price of metal cobalt reached US$79,295/ton, a high level in the past four years. The futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange once exceeded US$100,000/ton, setting a new record high.
Stimulated by high oil prices and climate targets, global lithium battery demand is expected to exceed 3,000 GWh by 2030, while electric vehicle market demand will account for more than 80% of all lithium battery demand. will ease.
