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Global Li-ion battery shipments rise in 2024: EV Tank

  • : Battery materials, Chemicals, Metals
  • 25/01/06

Global shipments of electric vehicle (EV) power batteries and energy storage batteries surged in 2024, and could continue growing until 2030, according to Chinese research institution EV Tank.

Global EV power battery shipments increased by 22pc on the year to 1,051GWh in 2024. This was mainly driven by continued rises in China's EV sales, which were supported by government incentives such as old vehicle trade-in subsidies, outpacing a slowdown in European and US markets caused by weakening economies and rising inflation.

Global shipments of energy storage batteries rose by 65pc over the same period to 370GWh, supported by China's government-led promotion of energy storage systems in wind and solar industries, falling manufacturing costs, as well as firm physical demand in the US and effects from its investment tax credit. GWh-level orders from some emerging markets such as UK, Saudi Arabia and Australian also grew over 2024.

Global total shipments of lithium-ion batteries increased by 29pc from a year earlier to 1,545GWh in 2024, including 1,215GWh in China that rose by 37pc on the year and accounting for 79pc of the total. Continued demand growth in China and the country's elevated investment in overseas production boosted global shipments.

EV Tank forecasts global lithium-ion battery shipments will rise to 1,899GWh in 2025 and 5,127GWh in 2030. It also estimates China's shipments of sodium-ion battery shipments to more than double to 2GWh in 2024 from 0.7GWh in 2023. But this was far below earlier expectations of 3 GWh/yr, because of higher manufacturing costs for sodium-ion batteries compared with ternary and lithium iron phosphate lithium-ion batteries and lead-acid batteries.

Consecutive falls in lithium carbonate feedstock prices in the past couple of years, mainly caused by rapid supply expansions, have reduced manufacturing costs for lithium-ion batteries. Current average manufacturing costs for lithium-ion batteries fell to 0.50 yuan/Wh as of June 2024, lower than Yn0.60/Wh for the sodium-ion battery, according to EV Tank.


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ACBL sets release dates for Illinois River lock


25/02/13
25/02/13

ACBL sets release dates for Illinois River lock

Houston, 13 February (Argus) — Major barge carrier American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL) has issued its earliest release dates for Illinois River barges planning to transit the Lockport Lock, which closed for maintenance last month. Release dates will be from 23 February through 19 March for barges expecting to pass through the Lockport Lock over the spring season, ACBL said Wednesday. The US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) expects to reopen the Lockport Lock on 25 March, the Corps said when it announced the closure . The Corps closed the lock on 28 January to install new vertical lift gates and make repairs. The closure has cut off major trade hubs such as Chicago, Illinois, and Burns Harbor, Indiana, from Illinois River barge transportation. Lock 27 and the Mel Price Lock above St Louis will remain partially closed through 1 April, as they are also undergoing maintenance by the Corps, ACBL said. The barge line acknowledged higher demurrage rates were likely for those who loaded barges prior to the released dates. Initial transit on the Illinois River is also anticipated to have a significant backlog in the spring months. By Meghan Yoyotte ACBL's Illinois River release dates Origin Port Barges destined above Lockport Lock, on IL River Mobile, AL 25 Feb Houston, TX 23 Feb Weeks Island, LA 26 Feb New Orleans, LA 3 Mar Pittsburgh, PA 2 Mar Cincinnati, OH 5 Mar Decatur, AL 10 Mar Memphis, TN 10 Mar Evanscille, IN 12 Mar Cairo, IL 16 Mar St Louis, MO 19 Mar — ACBL Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US wholesale inflation holds near 2-year high in Jan


25/02/13
25/02/13

US wholesale inflation holds near 2-year high in Jan

Houston, 13 February (Argus) — Prices paid to US producers in January held at nearly a two-year high, another sign of mounting inflation pressures that may keep the Federal Reserve from lowering rates for longer. Prices paid to producers (PPI) rose by 3.5pc in January from a year earlier, matching the prior month's gain, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. Analysts surveyed by Trading Economics had forecast a gain of 3.2pc. The PPI number follows a higher-than-expected consumer price reading Wednesday which together reinforce the message that the Federal Reserve may hold off longer on rate cuts, especially in the face of potentially inflationary trade conflicts and migrant roundups under the new US administration. PPI excluding food, energy and trade services rose by 3.4pc in January following a 3.5pc gain in December. PPI for services rose by 4.1pc in January following a 4pc gain in December. Wholesale prices for energy were flat following a 2pc annual decline the prior month. PPI for goods rose by 2.3pc in January following a 1.8pc gain in December On a monthly basis, headline PPI rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4pc, compared with a 0.5pc gain in December and a 0.2pc increase in November. Services PPI rose by 0.3pc in December, following a monthly gain of 0.5pc in December and a 0.1pc gain in November. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

DeepSeek AI integration to boost long-term metal demand


25/02/13
25/02/13

DeepSeek AI integration to boost long-term metal demand

Beijing, 13 February (Argus) — Increasing integration of DeepSeek's artificial intelligence (AI) models in China is likely to boost long-term demand for metals used in AI infrastructures and products, according to market participants. China's three largest telecommunications companies — China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom — have integrated DeepSeek's open source models, and provided exclusive computing power solutions and supporting environments for the DeepSeek-R1 model to help release the performance of the model, the country's industry and information technology ministry said on 9 February. Other major Chinese technology firms including Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent have also announced integration of DeepSeek's models into their cloud platforms. This is likely to accelerate these companies' development of intelligent applications. The country's largest electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD, which sold around 4.2mn EVs last year in China, on 11 February announced plans to integrate software from DeepSeek into 21 of its EV models, enabling the automaker to offer advanced autonomous driving features on all of its 18 models priced above 100,000 yuan ($13,686). DeepSeek's models offer performance for a low price, with its training cost reportedly significantly lower than other large language models. It provides responses comparable to other contemporary large language models, such as OpenAI's GPT-4o. The roll-out of DeepSeek's models is expected to provide low-cost, high-efficiency intelligent services for small and medium-sized companies and individual users, reduce the threshold for the use of AI technology, and accelerate the inclusion of AI technology. Metals demand This development is also likely to boost long-term demand for metals, particularly copper, aluminum, tungsten, molybdenum, gallium, germanium, battery metals and rare earths. AI operations rely on a large number of servers and data centres, with copper widely used in power distribution, grounding and interconnection of the data centres. Global copper demand from data centres is projected to exceed 1mn t by 2026, according to industry estimates. Rapid development of the AI industry is also boosting copper demand in grid systems. Aluminum is used in some cooling and structural components of data centres. Demand for indium phosphide (inP) photonic integrated circuit (PiC) technology from the data centre industry is also growing rapidly, driven by the heavy computing workloads required to support AI. AI growth and data centre demand is also expected to increase the use of compound semiconductor materials including gallium nitride and gallium arsenide. Molybdenum and tungsten can be used to manufacture high-temperature components and electrode materials used in some high-end AI hardware equipment. Rare earth metals also have key applications in AI-related magnetic and optical materials. A faster development of AI products has the potential to increase demand for neodymium iron and boron (NdFeB) material used in special micro-motors and servo motors, rare earth polishing powder used in wafer devices and rare earth magnets used in audio products. Some main domestic smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei, Honor and Oppo have also integrated DeepSeek's services into their products. This is likely to accelerate the development and consumer adoption of AI smartphones. Earlier industry estimates showed that shipments of AI smartphones would rise to 550mn units globally in 2027, making up more than 40pc of total phone shipments. About 30pc of cobalt and 7pc of global lithium production is consumed in the consumer electronics industry. Challenges DeepSeek's development is facing challenges outside China. The DeepSeek application was removed from Italy's app store in January owing to alleged data security concerns. Australia has banned the use of DeepSeek's technology on all government devices. Japanese companies such as Toyota, Mitsubishi and SoftBank have banned the use of DeepSeek for "information security issues". Texas in February became the first US state to ban the use of DeepSeek on government equipment. But the western countries' anxiety about DeepSeek may spur the development of their own AI industries. US president Donald Trump said that DeepSeek was a "wake-up call" for the US technology industry. South Korea's acting president Choi Sang-moo views DeepSeek as a "new impact", planning to pour 34 trillion won ($23.5bn) into the development of the AI and semiconductor industries. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Tesla sales slump on ageing line up, competition


25/02/12
25/02/12

Tesla sales slump on ageing line up, competition

London, 12 February (Argus) — US firm Tesla's electric vehicle (EV) sales have continued to fall this year — but as a result of structural factors, such as increased competition, duties and the arrival of Chinese carmakers in the market, and not because of chief executive Elon Musk's public profile, market participants have told Argus . Tesla's European sales fell by 11pc in 2024, having risen by 56pc in 2023 (see graph) . In January 2025, Tesla's sales fell by 63pc on the year in France, 59.5pc in Germany, 44.3pc in Sweden, and 37.9pc in Norway. The smaller 7.8pc fall in the non-EU UK could be explained by the different tariff regime. Some Tesla models sold in Europe are manufactured in Shanghai, and the UK has decided not to impose tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, while the EU imposed a 7.8pc duty on Tesla's Chinese-made EVs in October. Demand for Teslas in the UK, France, Germany and US began to decline in April last year, according to Ben Marks, founder of Electrify Research. Marks also pointed to "notable drops in July and October, by which time Tesla had fallen from the first to fourth-placed brand — trailing Audi, BMW and VW". According to a survey conducted last month by car testers Electrifying.com, of 455 non-EV drivers, 56pc would be happy to buy Chinese, while 59pc have been put off buying a Tesla by the public profile of chief executive Elon Musk, although some market participants pointed to other problems. "Tesla's problems are likely not to do with British motorists' perceptions of Elon Musk, and more to do with the fact that Tesla haven't released a new car since the Model Y, while its competitors have been playing catch-up," independent transport research organisation New AutoMotive's chief executive, Ben Nelmes, said. And with Chinese EV makers now in Europe, and over 130 mainstream EV models available in the UK, "competition has never been fiercer", Electrifying.com chief executive Ginny Buckley told Argus . "[Tesla's] dominance is no longer guaranteed." Meanwhile, Slovakian battery maker InoBat's vice-chair, Andy Palmer, said Tesla "needs to think long and hard about its positioning and product offers if it wants to stop bleeding market share". Tesla models also rely on production of a battery chemistry that is increasingly concentrated in China (see graph) . Standard-range versions of Tesla's best-selling Model 3 and Model Y both use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, rather than premium nickel-cobalt-manganese-based (NCM) batteries. And while input costs of LFP-based EVs have edged down to a discount to NCM-based EVs (see graphs) , domestic LFP production has enabled Chinese carmakers such as BYD to sell their models at prices that are increasingly competitive with Tesla . Tesla better placed to cope than legacy carmakers Tesla's Model Y is still comfortably the best-selling EV model, according to research firm Jato Dynamics. "One of the things with car sales, particularly retail sales — it's not logical, otherwise everyone would drive a Toyota Corolla. People drive the new shiny things. Tesla used to be the shiny thing with the Model Y, but not so much now," the founder of ratings service The Car Expert, Stuart Masson, told Argus . Until recently, Tesla "showed you don't have to make design changes for the sake of it" according to Masson, going against prevailing wisdom. Tesla's cars often still topped ratings for safety, battery efficiency and technology after 3-4 years on the road. Tesla is "better placed to cope" with Chinese competition because it "doesn't have a lot of legacy infrastructure", Masson added. The firm has never had dealers, as conventional carmakers have, or big showrooms that require steady monthly sales. Instead, it operates its own showrooms and interacts with customers directly over the internet, cutting out the middleman used by established dealer networks. Volkswagen, by contrast, "can't sack anyone in Germany because of the unions and local government that have seats on the board; they veto any attempts", Masson said. "It's haemorrhaging money, and it knows full well that most expensive factories are in Germany, but it can't get rid of them." Volkswagen Group's operating profit dropped by 42pc on the year to €2.9bn in the third quarter of 2024 and its operating margin was just 3.6pc. Tesla also makes a much bigger profit from EVs than any western car company, so it can better afford to reduce prices. The firm is also now much more than just a carmaker, Masson added, having launched an energy storage gigafactory in Shanghai this week. "From cars to battery storage, superchargers, robo-taxis and robo-vans, they've launched several concepts that have never gone to production, but they tend to find their feet in every market," Masson said. "I think it will still be okay, but we're not going to see continued growth of 100pc per year … I think there are a lot of car companies that are in far more trouble." By Chris Welch Tesla annual BEV sales in Europe China monthly battery production GWh NCM EV input material price model $ LFP EV input material price model $ Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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