CHART: Top 20 automakers by battery metal spending

2024 was a record-breaking year for the global electric vehicle industry. In total, 865.5 GWh were added to the electric car parc, an expansion of 171.8 GWh, or 25% compared to the year before.

The batteries of electric vehicles, including plug-in and conventional hybrids, sold globally during 2024 contained a combined 1.76 million tonnes of graphite, LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent), nickel, cobalt and manganese, outpacing growth in GWh and unit sale terms. Also bear in mind that these are terminal installed tonnes and required primary production is significantly higher.

Nearly a third of all passenger EV battery capacity, and corollary battery metals, deployed since the emergence of the industry were rolled onto roads last year alone. Adamas Intelligence, a Toronto-based EV supply chain research firm, predicts 2025 will be the first year more than 1 terawatt hours will be added to the globe’s highways and byways. 

This bodes well for battery metal producers, but in the absence of a price recovery, the size of the market in dollar terms will remain well below its 2022 annual peak of more than $30 billion when lithium, nickel and cobalt prices were riding high. 

After another sharp year on year contraction thanks mostly to weak lithium prices, the battery metals deployed in 2024 was worth a total of $14.0 billion, a 44.5% drop compared to the year before.    

The right mix

Drilling down from the overall figure shows vast differences between automakers in terms of battery metals usage and costs.  

Despite selling 2 million more electric vehicles last year than Tesla, BYD’s bill of materials was $1 billion below that of its Texas-based rival. BYD’s in-house manufactured batteries cost the Chinese company  $1.07 billion last year, down by nearly half over 2023. 

BYD’s all lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery-powered model line-up concentrated at the lower end of the market and a sales mix that is now majority plug-in hybrids kept sales-weighted average material costs per EV to just $259 versus $1,152 for every Tesla model sold. 

Even when considering only  fully electric vehicles, BYD’s spending on raw materials are way below the average at $399 per BEV. The comparable number for the Volkswagen stable including Audi, Porsche, Skoda and others is $1,641 per BEV.

LFP-powered Models 3 and Y manufactured in China are a big part of Tesla’s sales but the slow buildout of LFP cell factories outside China means these nickel cobalt and manganese free powerpacks are largely absent from Western automakers’ lineups.

Heavy on HEVs 

From Tesla, there’s another big step up to General Motors which has to contend with an average battery metals bill of a hefty  $1,702 even after a reduction of 19.5% year on year thanks to weak lithium, cobalt and manganese prices. 

On a GWh basis, some three-quarters of GM’s batteries came from its venture with LG Energy Solution called Ultium. GM is overhauling this strategy after poaching a Tesla battery executive last year and is moving away from its heavy and beefy one-size-fits-all packs.

On the other side of the spectrum is Toyota, which spent on average just $185 per EV sold last year. That’s because of the Japanese giant’s focus on conventional hybrids where battery capacity rarely exceeds 2kWh. 

Last year 9 out of every ten Toyota (including Lexus) electrified vehicles sold were conventional hybrids fitted with mostly nickel-metal-hydride batteries which also shows that Prius and the like are still a meaningful source of battery nickel demand. 

That’s further underlined by the fact that while per EV battery metals costs for the industry as a whole fell by 44.5% last year to  $578 per vehicle, Toyota’s bill was down only 17% across the 4.2 million EVs it sold last year.     

Revved up about EREVs 

The spending on battery metals by Li Auto and the Seres Group – the world’s second fastest growing EV maker in GWh terms last year –  also stands out with higher than the average sales-weighted battery costs despite their heavy focus on plug-in hybrids.  

Both Chinese manufacturers have made the most of the growing popularity of EREVs, or range extenders, where the combustion engine serves only as a generator to charge the battery. 

Li Auto was until last year exclusively an EREV builder and its best-selling L6 sports a range that extends to just under 1,400 km (860 miles) without the need to refuel or recharge. 

The batteries of EREVs are on average larger than small and compact BEVs and many automakers opt for NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) batteries over LFP to provide the necessary energy density and power delivery.   

The EREV trend is good news for producers as ex-China OEMs scramble to add range extenders to their lineup. Ford scrapped plans for a three-row full-electric SUV to replace it with an as yet unseen EREV while Stellantis has pulled forward deliveries of its new Ramcharger EREV while postponing the launch of the BEV version of the popular pickup.  

Hyundai told investors early last year that EREVs will play a big part in its future, while Mercedes-Benz is also rumored to be considering an EREV option for its popular CLA-class sedans.   

For more on the battery metals market check out the latest issue of The Northern Miner print and digital editions. 

* Frik Els is Editor at Large for MINING.COM and Head of Adamas Inside, providing news and analysis based on Adamas Intelligence data.