Battery Cost Index

Providing greater transparency into the cost of key Li-ion cell components

Volatile battery raw material prices, varying battery chemistries and differing manufacturing costs result in cell prices that appear opaque and subjective. This makes it difficult for market participants to budget effectively, anticipate price changes, bring transparency to transactions and effectively track cost changes over time.

The Fastmarkets Battery Cost Index is an easy-to-use cost model for total cell costs, including cost breakdown of active anode material (AAM), cathode active material (CAM), separator, electrolyte, other materials, energy, labor and operational costs across multiple chemistries and geographies. The Fastmarkets Battery Cost Index provides historical costs, changes over time and cell cost forecasts.

Key features of the Battery Cost Index

  • Material and production costs for NMC (111, 532, 622, 811) and LFP
  • Geographical cell cost summaries for China, South Korea, Germany and the United States
  • Cell cost forecasts out to 2033
  • Market-leading Fastmarkets price data to provide real-time CAM costs
  • Written commentary on key drivers impacting cost and cost changes
  • Historic monthly cell costs
Artistic vision of a neon lit battery supply

Our battery cost index breaks down the cost, historical and forecast,
for different cell types and chemistries

We buy cathode material; this is a valuable tool to help us to understand how suppliers cost the cathodes, this can help us to have more informed negotiations.
EV battery procurement, OEM
Read the latest battery raw materials insights

Actionable insights and market intel on the battery materials market and how the cost of raw materials is impacting the cost of electric vehicles

It was already getting more difficult to source nickel qualified as compliant to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Under a future Donald Trump administration, it’s likely to get harder still, in the short-term at least.

India should invest to avoid its dependance on imports for almost 100% of its cobalt, lithium and nickel requirements, according to a report by the think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). But slow government action and a focus on short-term costs keep India reliant on imported critical minerals, sources told Fastmarkets.

Li-Cycle has successfully closed on an upsized loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to support the development of the its Rochester Hub Project, the company announced alongside its third-quarter earnings report on Thursday November 7.

Read Fastmarkets’ monthly battery raw materials market update for November 2024, focusing on raw materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and more

Donald Trump’s second term as US president is not likely to have too much of an impact on China’s electric vehicle (EV) and new energy markets, despite broader concerns over potential tariff hikes which might bring challenges to both China and the US, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday November 7.

As the dust settles in Washington and Americans wake up to news that Donald Trump is once again president-elect, participants in the cobalt market discuss the wider ramifications on a crucial coming four years for the electric vehicle (EV) industry.

Spodumene prices rose on Wednesday November 6 as Chinese lithium producers restocked, but news of the US election result late in the session weakened sentiment.

Donald Trump has previously said he plans to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), at least partially, and rescind its unspent funds.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Thursday October 31 a further $44.8 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for eight projects to lower the costs of recycling electric vehicle (EV) batteries and EV battery components to ultimately decrease overall EV costs.

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