Battery Cost Index

Providing greater transparency into the cost of key Li-ion cell components

Volatile battery raw material prices, varying battery chemistries and differing manufacturing costs result in cell prices that appear opaque and subjective. This makes it difficult for market participants to budget effectively, anticipate price changes, bring transparency to transactions and effectively track cost changes over time.

The Fastmarkets Battery Cost Index is an easy-to-use cost model for total cell costs, including cost breakdown of active anode material (AAM), cathode active material (CAM), separator, electrolyte, other materials, energy, labor and operational costs across multiple chemistries and geographies. The Fastmarkets Battery Cost Index provides historical costs, changes over time and cell cost forecasts.

Key features of the Battery Cost Index

  • Material and production costs for NMC (111, 532, 622, 811) and LFP
  • Geographical cell cost summaries for China, South Korea, Germany and the United States
  • Cell cost forecasts out to 2033
  • Market-leading Fastmarkets price data to provide real-time CAM costs
  • Written commentary on key drivers impacting cost and cost changes
  • Historic monthly cell costs
Artistic vision of a neon lit battery supply

Our battery cost index breaks down the cost, historical and forecast,
for different cell types and chemistries

We buy cathode material; this is a valuable tool to help us to understand how suppliers cost the cathodes, this can help us to have more informed negotiations.
EV battery procurement, OEM
Read the latest battery raw materials insights

Actionable insights and market intel on the battery materials market and how the cost of raw materials is impacting the cost of electric vehicles

Volkswagen Group is seeking partnerships with battery raw material producers in order to vertically integrate and achieve security of supply and competitive prices for its minerals needs, a spokesperson for the German automaker told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 17.

The gap between lithium spot and contract prices has narrowed significantly in 2021 as a result of tight availability along the lithium supply chain and price evolution, market sources said.

Construction work will restart in the near future at the Kniwana lithium hydroxide plant in Western Australia after Australia-based exploration and mining company IGO joined the venture at the end of 2020, a spokesperson at joint-owner Tianqi told Fastmarkets on Tuesday May 4.

The battery-grade seaborne Asian lithium carbonate market continued to post gains over the week on Thursday May 6 amid tight spot availability.

Nickel briquette has steadily become a more favored choice of feedstock for Chinese battery-grade nickel sulfate producers in recent months, resulting in a notable pick-up in spot trading activity for the former.

Changing preferences for lithium-ion battery chemistries in China have altered relative lithium prices

China-based nickel and stainless steel producer Tsingshan Holding Group will invest 10.3 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) to build a lithium-ion battery plant in the southern China province of Guangdong, it said on April 1.

Chile’s Corfo on Friday February 19 filed an arbitration process with the International Chamber of Commerce against United States-based lithium miner Albemarle for allegedly underpaying royalties on its lithium sales, Corfo confirmed to Fastmarkets on Monday February 22.

The board of Chilean lithium producer Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) has approved the company’s investment in the Mount Holland lithium project in Western Australia, it said on Wednesday February 17.

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