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

Restrictions on critical minerals by China cast uncertainty over industry

China’s State Reserve Bureau (SRB) is planning to purchase a large volume of cobalt metal for its stockpile, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 5

Recycling requirements under new European Union battery regulations could see exports of black mass from Europe fall close to zero as soon as 2025, Fastmarkets heard at the E-waste World battery recycling conference in Frankfurt last week

Market participants in the battery raw materials supply chain will have an increasing need to hedge lithium carbonate to mitigate price risks, and demand for this will soon grow in both Europe and North America

Panelists at an industry conference last month shared their opinions on what is known and unknown about the US government’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its likely consequences for the global battery raw materials supply chain

Chinese participants are mulling over nickel sulfate exports into neighboring Japan and South Korea, with the main driver the regional price gap between China and these countries, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday June 27

Increased prices for key battery raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium are continuing to assist demand for shredded nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) lithium-ion batteries

The CME Group will launch a cash-settled lithium carbonate contract that will be settled against Fastmarkets’ assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea

China will extend its tax breaks for the purchase of new energy vehicles (NEVs) between 2024 and 2027

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