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

State-owned copper giant Codelco has created two subsidiaries to further its expansion into lithium, a metal Chile has identified as essential not only for the global energy transition but for its own future development

Putailai, one of the major anode producers in China, announced plans to invest $1.5 billion (SEK 15.7 billion) in Zichen Technology (Sweden) AB. to build Europe’s largest factory for anode manufacturing in Sundsvall in central Sweden

US carmaker Ford has secured long-term supplies of battery-grade lithium from major producers Albemarle and Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM)

With competition heating up for the metals that are critical for the energy transition, companies that use these metals have been tapping junior miners with significant deposits to ensure supply, even when the start of production at these mines are years away

Delegates at the Cobalt Congress conference in Istanbul, Turkey, held May 9-11, discussed expectations and developments in the global cobalt market following a volatile 12 months. Here are four key takeaways

Resource nationalism in Western economies was expected to be a major driver of investment in the cobalt supply chain in the second half of this decade

Li-Cycle more than doubled its production of black mass in the first quarter of 2023 thanks to its new and upgraded electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling “spokes” in the United States

China’s automotive output and sales dropped in April 2023 versus the prior month, with both largely subdued by general caution among consumers that had been fueled by the price wars in the automotive sector during the month

Cobalt continues to be a key component for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, with nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) remaining the key battery chemistry amid the growing market share of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries

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