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
Latest battery materials news
Browse the latest market moving news on the global battery materials industry.
Some Brazil transition projects pose Amazon risk: Study
Some Brazil transition projects pose Amazon risk: Study
Sao Paulo, 27 August (Argus) — Some Brazilian projects aimed at advancing the energy transition are harming areas destined for forest preservation and low-carbon agriculture, mostly damaging territories in the Amazon rainforest, according to a study released this week. The study from Sao Paulo state university (USP) and the federal university of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) in Minas Gerais state looked at projects such as power transmission lines, mining focused on critical minerals for energy transition purposes, and solar and wind power plants. Those projects overlap with around 34pc of federal protected areas, such as forest preservation units, land reform settlements, quilombo communities and indigenous groups. These areas contribute to climate initiatives because they are actively participating in preserving native vegetation and rivers, while also providing national hydrological security and food supplies through low-carbon agriculture, the study shows. Areas damaged by the energy transition infrastructure projects total 179,000km² (69,112miles²) — an area larger than Uruguay — and could reach 771,000km² considering all future projects submitted to licensing or in the research phase, according to the study. "The Amazon rainforest is the most damaged region when it comes to these energy transition businesses, mostly due to the biome's size and the projects overlapping its protected areas," the study said. Projects in Brazil that had to go through environmental licensing had to consider a 10km diameter in the Amazon region to study and create preventative actions to avoid environmental damage stemming from the project. In August, Brazil approved a new environmental licensing bill which decreased the impact diameter to 8km for projects to receive licensing, among other things. UN Cop 30 summit dilemma Brazil is seemingly refusing to adopt a new economic strategy that considers its environmental vulnerabilities, according to the study, which counters the UN Cop 30 climate summit's attempt of merging economic development with climate action. Earlier in August , Cop 30 director Ana Toni said that "the summit's success depends on whether countries understand that the climate issue is also inherently economic" and that "there's no room to address the matters as separate from one another anymore." Brazil will host the summit in the Amazon region city of Belem, in Para state, in November. "Brazil fails when it plans its energy transition only focusing on reducing emissions , while the real transition must also address environmental limits such as soil and water usage," UFRJ researcher Clarice Ferraz said. "We need to question what is sold as the solution for the climate crisis because they actually involve a lot of mining and a lot of land." By Maria Frazatto Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia’s road user tax to hit EV drivers
Australia’s road user tax to hit EV drivers
Sydney, 22 August (Argus) — Australia's federal Labor government has conceded that a road user tax to charge electric vehicle (EV) drivers will be introduced, but has not yet committed to a timeline for the plan. The announcement came after a three-day Economic Reform Roundtable in Canberra, which canvassed government and business leaders' ideas for improving Australia's sluggish economy. The economy grew at just 1.3pc in the year to 31 March and -0.2pc on a per capita basis. A final model for taxing EV usage was not agreed on, but conceptual support exists for the tax change, Australia's treasurer Jim Chalmers said after the summit's final session on 21 August. The treasurer, federal transport minister Catherine King and state government ministers will meet to discuss an options paper on 5 September. A tax would add to the A$16bn/yr ($10.3bn/yr) income from the 51.6A¢/litre fuel excise that Canberra imposes on gasoline and diesel. The turnaround comes two years after Canberra joined opposition to the state of Victoria's distance-based levy. The High Court of Australia ruled the distance-based levy invalid and said only the federal government could impose such a tax under the constitution. That decision put New South Wales state's scheme on ice, which was due to start on 1 July 2027 or when EVs make up 30pc of new car sales. The state planned to charge drivers 2.974A¢/km for a battery EV or 2.379A¢/km for a plug-in hybrid EV, indexed to the consumer price index each financial year. But this case was heard ahead of new emissions laws, which impose penalties starting 1 July on manufacturers that fail to meet reduction goals targets across the range of vehicles they sell. This is expected to drive sales of low-emissions vehicles, such as EVs, higher. Transport makes up 98mn t/yr or 21pc of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions, with government figures showing average passenger cars in Australia emit at a rate 20pc higher than the US' vehicle fleet. EV uptake is increasing in Australia but from a low base, with battery EVs and plug-in hybrids making up 13.1pc of sales in April-June, up from 9.6pc in April-June 2024, data from the Australian Automobile Association data show. Australia's gasoline consumption was 271,000 b/d in January-June ( see table ), 2.5pc below year earlier data, according to Australian Petroleum Statistics (APS). Meanwhile, diesel sales are steadier on the year. The productivity-oriented summit failed to reach a consensus on taxation changes, 25 years after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced — Australia's last major economic reform. But Chalmers also promised to remove hundreds of ‘nuisance' tariffs, reform the national construction code to build more housing and speed up the pace of changes to the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, after failing to do so in its previous term . By Tom Major Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Batteries can better Brazil power grid: Panelists
Batteries can better Brazil power grid: Panelists
Sao Paulo, 19 August (Argus) — Better developing battery systems to store renewable energy would support Brazil's power generation capacity and help it reach its supply potential, panelists at a climate summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, said today. Battery energy storage systems (Bess) could help in regulating renewable energy generation when it exceeds demand, power company Comerc Energia's chief executive Clarissa Sadock said. Brazil has an abundance of renewable energy sources, including hydropower and wind. Hydroelectric and distributed generation account for more than half of Brazil's power matrix, at 41pc and 18pc, respectively. Wind sources represent 15pc, while thermal, solar and biomass contribute with less than 10pc each, according to grid operator ONS. Some major agricultural producers have adopted battery systems to store electricity and distribute it to large farms in more remote area, Sadock said, adding that installing Bess is less expensive than building a transmission line to these rural sites. But overall Brazil's Bess system development has been modest . Battery systems would be a solution for power flexibility with controllable energy sources — such as renewables — to promptly meet demand and regulate supply, especially during peak hours. They can also balance peak capacity in Brazil's electric grid, adjust quality and enable digital solutions. Brazil's installed power capacity will increase by 36GW to reach 268GW by 2029, mainly driven by growth in renewable sources, according to ONS' 2025-29 power operations plan. By João Curi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
China to overpower Brazil in rare earths through 2050
China to overpower Brazil in rare earths through 2050
Sao Paulo, 19 August (Argus) — Brazil's rare earths extraction capacity will struggle to catch up with China through 2050, not unlike the rest of the world, according to the Brazilian energy transition innovation center (ETIC)'s deputy coordinator. Brazil's ample resources will fall short of enabling it to become a key rare earths market as long as processing remains almost monopolized globally by China, ETIC's deputy coordinator Erik Rego, who is also a former electric power studies director at the energy research bureau (EPE), told Argus. "The world is seeking an energy transition from a dependence on oil producing countries to only one mineral processingand supply country, and that is China," he said. "Youcould buy minerals from across the world, but only one country is processing them." Still, the government is eyeing mineral reserves onshore and offshore to increase production and market share during an energy transitionramp-up ahead of Brazil's net zero targets in 2050. Brazil holds 23pc of the world's rare earth reserves, 26pc of the graphite reserves and 94pc of the niobium reserves, according to geological survey SGB. Companies such as the US' Rare Earths Americas and Aclara Resources have set sights on Brazil for that market. But production is still incipient. Only one company — Brazil's Serra Verde — produces rare earths in the country. It is the only source of commercial production outside of Asia . Brazil has been insisting on its claim to a mineral-rich offshore territory known as Rio Grande Rise in the eastern South Atlantic margin. Mineral race China's mining supply of magnet rare earth elements — such as praseodymium, neodymium , terbium and dysprosium — is expected to increase by 24pc to 56,800 metric tonnes (t) in 2035 from 2024, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) projections (see graph). Australia, currently the fourth top mining country in the segment, is set to lift its output fourfold to 14,570t in 2035 from 2024. China represented 68pc of rare earths mining production in 2022, followed by the US with 11pc and Australia with 9pc, according to IEA. As for the processing of these elements, China alone accounted for 90pc, ahead of Malaysia with 9pc and Estonia with 1pc. China also led processing of other rare minerals in 2022, such as copper, cobalt, lithium and 100pc of graphite, while it only appeared among the top three producing countries in mining of rare earths and graphite during the period. The data show that, as opposed to geopolitical debates recently over mineral reserves, the world should pay more attention to processing, which is concentrated in the Chinese market, not extraction, Rego told Argus. Rare earths have been in focus since the ramp-up of production of electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines, which make them valuable to the energy transition agenda. Rare earth elements, especially, are mostly used in offshore wind power generation, besides a modest presence in onshore and nuclear facilities. The EV sector will require around 49,890t of magnet rare earth elements in 2050, up from 8,360t in 2024, according to IEA data. Meanwhile, wind power generation is expected to reach 26,700t of magnet rare earth elements in 2050 from 10,500t in 2024 (see graph ). By João Curi Mining supply ’000t Refining supply ’000t Total demand for rare earths elements ’000t Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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Fertilizer Matters EP32: China's Purified Phosphoric Acid Market, June 2025
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