Battery sector slashes nickel and cobalt use, 2 minerals whose relative scarcity was thought to be a problem for the global energy transition.
Posted by Straight_Ad2258
Battery sector slashes nickel and cobalt use, 2 minerals whose relative scarcity was thought to be a problem for the global energy transition.
Posted by Straight_Ad2258
4 Comments
sources:
[https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/energy-storage-boom-drives-battery-shift-leaving-nickel-cobalt-behind-2025-05-21/](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/energy-storage-boom-drives-battery-shift-leaving-nickel-cobalt-behind-2025-05-21/)
[https://www.mining.com/web/electric-vehicle-outlook-is-even-brighter-if-the-world-bikes-and-takes-the-bus/bending-the-curve-the-outlook-for-cobalt-demand-from-ev-batteries-has-changed-dramatically/](https://www.mining.com/web/electric-vehicle-outlook-is-even-brighter-if-the-world-bikes-and-takes-the-bus/bending-the-curve-the-outlook-for-cobalt-demand-from-ev-batteries-has-changed-dramatically/)
LFP batteries main drawback is their lower energy density compared to NMC or other ternary batteries
but for applications like grid or residential energy storage, energy density has no relevance, only price and lifespan does
and since LFP batteries ,especially for grid storage, easily do 6000-7000 charge-discharge cycles, they are insanely matterial efficient
lets assume that their energy density is 60 times lower than natural gas
* given that natural gas peaker plants have at most 40-50% efficiency, while AC-DC roundtrip efficiency is nowadays close to 95% for grid storage, actual useful energy output per kg is 30 times higher for natural gas
* **but since LFP batteries can do at least 6000 charging cycles, while gas can be burned only once, the amount of electricity the grid gets over the lifetime of the battery is 200 times higher per kg than natural gas**
even taking into account the total rock mined for iron and phosphate, one still needs to extract at least 10 times less material per kwh for batteries vs for natural gas
Somebody tell Peter Zeihan!
in practical terms ,the rise of LFP means the relative importance of Russia, Indonesia and DRC for the global economy is going to be smaller with the rise of EVs and battery storage, while the importance of Morocco is going to be much much higher( like 80% of global phosphate reserves are in Western Sahara, occupied by Morroco altough there is an independence movement)
**which explains why many European countries are increasingly taking the side of Morroco in the Western Sahara dispute( im not saying whether that’s right or wrong ,im just saying why they do this)**