Battery materials
Overview
Growth in global electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) production has put a spotlight on battery materials. While lithium-ion batteries dominate the current market, this is a rapidly emerging technology space where improved range or charge times can quicky shift industry sentiment and investment in a different direction.
Argus is at the forefront of battery materials pricing and reporting with coverage of common battery metals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite), industry-grade cathodes and black mass. As experts in specialty metals and rare earths, we future-proof our price assessment portfolio with a range of electronic metals crucial to the manufacture of technology deployed in modern vehicles.
Our Argus Battery Materials and Argus Non-Ferrous Markets services help businesses to understand these complicated supply chains, including price volatility and sustainability challenges around future demand.
Minor metals: Battery metals
As automakers continue to invest in electric vehicle production and power companies explore infrastructure that includes energy storage programmes, the metals contained in lithium-ion batteries supporting these products has attracted interest from investors, institutions and manufacturers alike.
Argus is well positioned to provide insight into price volatility, global supply and responsible material sourcing for all manufacturers and investors in this sector.
Highlights of Argus battery materials coverage
- Understand the context of significant price movements and industry trends with a weekly PDF that highlights the most important market news across lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel and other common battery materials
- Mitigate risk and perform reliable forward planning with 1-year and 10-year forecasts across different battery metals, chemistries and industries
- Gain a competitive edge with industry-specific tools, such as the Black Mass Calculator that estimates the intrinsic value of different battery chemistries (including cathodes like NCM111, NCM523, LFP, NCA)
- Invest with confidence knowing Argus is IOSCO-compliant with over 50 years of experience delivering trusted price data and market intelligence
Stay ahead of the battery material markets
To be informed of relevant content, sign up to Argus Battery Materials Market Highlights. Each newsletter issue provides key prices, selected news, downloadable insight papers, podcasts, and on-demand videos across all major battery raw materials. Our coverage spans lithium, cobalt, nickel, and more, enabling you to explore end-to-end the battery metals and EV industries.
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Browse the latest market moving news on the global battery materials industry.
South Korea's Kia cuts 2030 EV sales target
South Korea's Kia cuts 2030 EV sales target
Singapore, 9 April (Argus) — South Korean major automaker Kia has slashed its 2030 annual battery electric vehicle (EV) sales target to 1mn units, after cutting the target to 1.26mn in 2025 while expanding hybrid lineups. The company is lowering its EV sales target and expanding its internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid models considering the speed of the electrification transition, it said on 9 April. The carmaker previously targeted a relatively ambitious 1.6mn units/yr of EV sales, which was announced in 2024 . Kia plans to launch up to nine new ICE models and operate 13 hybrid models in 2030. It aims to sell 3.35mn car units in 2026, including 691,000 hybrids and 400,000 EVs, which would mark around 7pc of year-on-year sales growth. It has also set a global target of 4.13mn units/yr in 2030, comprised of 1.98mn ICE cars, 1.15mn hybrids and the remainder being EVs. Kia's factories in South Korea, China, India and Mexico will supply ICE and hybrid cars to meet corresponding expanding demand in emerging markets, said Kia. But it also plans to further localise EV production strategies in response to market demand and policies in certain regions, such as producing EV2 and EV4 models in Europe, EV6 and EV9 in the stagnating US, as well as the Syros and Carens EV models in India. Growing European and ex-China Asian demand partially offset a rocky start to the global EV market this year, given slower Chinese and US demand owing to policy changes in China and the US , according to South Korean consultancy firm SNE Research. Global EV deliveries came in at 2.28mn units in January-February, down by 7pc compared with the same period a year earlier, with EV receipts for China and the US falling by 23pc and 30pc, respectively. But a resurgence in the push for electrification following the Middle East war has since prompted at least southeast Asian countries to back a swifter EV transition. Global EV demand will see a "dramatic recovery" this year given oil price uncertainties, accelerating the EV penetration rate by 9 percentage points by 2030, according to SNE Research. By Joseph Ho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia's Core Lithium to restart mine in May
Australia's Core Lithium to restart mine in May
Singapore, 7 April (Argus) — Australian producer Core Lithium will restart its Finniss mine, with mining and ore production to begin in May followed by first concentrate delivery in October-December, it said today. The company has awarded a surface mining services contract to NRW, an Australian construction and mining contractor, for open-pit mining at the Grants deposit at Finniss, as Core Lithium works on restarting the site. The operation has been in care and maintenance since 2024 owing to poor lithium prices. In March, Core decided to restart the site. Open pit mining will provide a "near-term production pathway" and feed source for its processing plant, said Core Lithium on 7 April. Ore processing and hauling are expected to start in July-September, with the first shipment anticipated in October-December, the company added. Other Australian lithium producers, such as Mineral Resources and PLS — formerly known as Pilbara — were similarly forced to either shutter operations or slow expansions during the extended lithium downturn. But a recovery in spodumene prices since late 2025 has since prompted producers to begin reversing those decisions. Australia's lithium loadings hit a record high in March at over 488,200t, according to vessel tracking firm Kpler's latest figures compiled by Argus , after cyclone disruptions curbed February exports. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Michigan approves 1.3GW of BESS projects
Michigan approves 1.3GW of BESS projects
Houston, 31 March (Argus) — The Michigan Public Service Commission on 27 March approved six battery energy storage system (BESS) projects totalling 1,332MW to improve grid reliability. Three projects will provide a combined 1,000MW to meet DTE Electric's integrated resource plan, which calls for adding 15,000MW of solar and wind generation in the state. The contracts include a 20-year tolling agreement. The other three projects, with a combined capacity of 332MW, will serve a 1,383MW data center being developed by Oracle subsidiary Green Chile Ventures to improve reliability and reduce costs for customers. The 332MW of data center BESS projects approved so far is the first phase of the 1,383MW of energy storage facilities that Green Chile Ventures must develop to match the data center's contracted demand. Green Chile Ventures will bear the costs over 15 years, while DTE Electric will develop, own and operate the facilities. BESS projects provide a faster power addition for data centers and help address consumer affordability. Michigan hosts 74 of the 4,088 data centers in the US, with Detroit home to 32, according to Data Center Map. By Carol Luk Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Vale ups Cu, Ni reserves in Brazil, Canada in 2025
Vale ups Cu, Ni reserves in Brazil, Canada in 2025
London, 31 March (Argus) — Copper and nickel reserves and resources held by Brazil's Vale Base Metals (VBM) rose in 2025, after increased exploration drilling. Vale's copper reserves and resources rose by 6pc to 53mn t, while nickel reserves and resources rose by 13pc to 14mn t in 2025. The company aims to increase its reserves and resources by more than 20pc by the end of 2027, as it tries to convert known ore into supply rather than pursue harder-to-permit greenfields . Vale added new reserves last year at Bacaba in Brazil's Carajas district and widened resources across Sequeirinho, Mata, Cristalino and Paulo Afonso, building on its mine life expansion programme announced in February 2025 . Carajas is Vale's easiest site to add new copper tonnes, because of established infrastructure. Fresh tonnes at the long-running Sudbury underground hub in Ontario and at Voisey's bay in Canada extended mine life and backed new underground studies. Sudbury hit its highest ore production since 2016 last year . Vale plans to nearly double copper output by 2035, the company said last month . By Chris Welch Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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