Sodium-ion battery startup sparks lithium alternative
Peak Energy received $55 million in funding to scale up production of sodium-ion batteries that the company is positioning as an alternative to the widely used lithium-ion technology.
Ganfeng Lithium has told customers it is raising prices for lithium metal products by 100,000 yuan ($15,500) per tonne for the next month, partly because of higher production costs amid China’s power supply shortages.
In a notice to customers seen by Reuters and verified by a Ganfeng official, the Chinese company also cited higher costs for raw materials such as lithium carbonate for the price increase, which applies from Oct. 10 until Nov. 9.
Several regions have imposed curbs on industrial output and electricity usage to combat China’s worst power crunch in years.
The Ganfeng notice did not state absolute prices. Lithium metal prices in China were last assessed by industry pricing and information provider SMM at 865,000 yuan a tonne on Friday, the highest since late October 2018.
Ganfeng is best known as one of the world’s top producers of lithium chemicals used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, such as lithium carbonate, but also makes lithium metal, which is used in the nascent solid-state battery sector.
Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices in China touched a record high of 179,000 yuan a tonne on Monday, as assessed by Asian Metal, and have surged about 240% so far this year as EV demand roars back from the pandemic.
($1 = 6.4501 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(By Tom Daly; Editing by David Clarke)
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