By Pratima Desai
London (Reuters) – The upward trend in demand for metals used in electric vehicles is intact despite doubts raised by the slowdown in electric vehicle sales, but estimating figures is difficult as the market evolves, it said head of refined metals at commodities trader IXM.
Sales of electric vehicles have slowed, partly due to a lack of charging infrastructure and concerns about resale value.
“The electric car industry is new. There are many variables, including penetration and battery chemistry, that make forecasting demand a guessing game,” said Tom Mackay.
“Electric vehicle sales growth is slowing, but sales are still increasing. It varies from region to region, but overall growth is strong and the demand story for metals is healthy.”
According to consultancy Rho Motion, sales of battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs rose 32% to 13.63 million units last year, while in the first and second quarters of this year sales fell 25% and 22% respectively from of the previous quarters.
Copper is used in the wiring of electric vehicles. It is also used in batteries, which typically contain lithium and, depending on the chemistry, nickel and cobalt.
“There have been some impressive technological developments in LFP (lithium ion phosphate) chemistry. Some LFP batteries can last 1,000 kilometers and some can charge up to 80% in 10 minutes,” says Mackay, who uses the copper cathode, zinc, manages lead. nickel, cobalt and lithium books from the Swiss-based dealer.
LFP batteries were developed for the Chinese market to provide a cheaper alternative to nickel cobalt manganese (NCM). But earlier LFP batteries could not be used for long distances.
“People still believe that battery demand in the Western world will still be predominantly NCM, if only because of the higher value of NCM battery recycling,” Mackay said.
“Recyclability is a very important factor for automakers when deciding which chemicals to use.”
Mackay added that the number of people working at IXM globally is lower than before, at around 440.
“The emphasis was on the quality of people. We left the aluminum sector because it did not provide the returns we needed from the raw materials.”
