BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — Global revenue in the electric vehicle market is projected to exceed $384 billion in 2022, making lithium-ion batteries one of the planet’s most desired commodities – and China, Australia, and the U.S. are vying for their share.
Everyone wants a piece of the electric-car and green energy industries. Ford announced plans to annually produce about 150,000 full-size electric pickups for the U.S. market, while the Rockefeller Foundation has begun a project to deliver renewable electricity to 25 million rural Indians using new battery technology. Electric vehicle sales have continued breaking records. More efficient industrial batteries are being used in everything from cars to portable power plants, and in all types of engines now powered by hydrocarbons.
Electric car batteries rely on lithium hydroxide, which is most economically derived from a hard rock called spodumene. Since demand for this essential battery material is increasing, the price of Australian spodumene, one of the world’s top three sources of the mineral, has increased from $500 a ton in 2018 to $2,500 a ton in 2021, according to the Benchmark Mineral Alliance.
