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

Black mass payables dropped during the week to Wednesday November 29 with insufficient demand for the shredded, sorted lithium-ion battery packs in key buying markets restricting trade.

Spot lithium prices in China further extended losses over the week to Thursday November 30, depressed by continuous weakness in the futures market and tepid spot demand

Some cathode makers have been switching back to lower-nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) from high-nickel NCM cathodes to reduce costs and encourage consumers amid slowing demand for electric vehicles (EVs), Fastmarkets understands

Nearly 18 months since the first nickel-related lawsuit was filed against it in the English High Court, the London Metal Exchange has been cleared on all grounds and the charges against it dismissed.

The UK government’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) will consider all scenarios before a 10% import tariff on electric vehicles and their battery materials comes into effect on January 1 next year, it told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 29

Western Australia (WA), Australia’s largest state, will evaluate the possibility of developing cathode active materials (CAM) production once precursor CAM (pCAM) output is up and running, Bill Johnston, the state’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum, told Fastmarkets

Black mass payables have weakened in the key South Korean import market over the past week, with battery recyclers in the country cutting back on production amid a continued downtrend in metal prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 24

There is a sense of cautious optimism in the mining sector following the election of Javier Milei as the new president of Argentina on Sunday November 19, Fastmarkets understands

Fastmarkets presents the key discussion topics across the battery raw materials sector ahead of Fastmarkets’ China Battery Raw Materials conference taking place in Shanghai on December 6-7

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