7/25/2023 0 Comments GigafactoriesBecause they are partnerships, a lot of agreements are structured to recognize that ESG and responsible sourcing needs to be done together,” she said. “It’s not just about volume, price and length it’s much more than that. ![]() Those two go hand in hand today, without a doubt,” she said. “No commercial conversation today starts without some mention of ESG. According to Maryssael, Livent’s level of engagement with car companies on sustainability and responsible sourcing has only increased, with discussions not just “nice to have” but factors that are increasingly being built into long-term agreements. How important are ESG standards to automakers?ĮSG standards are of growing importance to automakers. “But is going to satisfy all the non-financial requirements an automaker is going to expect, including being the right quality, the right environmental, social and governance standard and the right price that you’re looking for?” she said. China will hold the lion’s share with 233 plants compared with 40 gigafactories in the United States, O’Hara said.Īt the same time, Maryssael acknowledged that lithium is available if a company is willing to pay the price for it, with the result that automakers with deeper pockets and those willing to overlook environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards will always be able to source the raw material. “I think it’s part of the messaging that you see many influential figures in the industry have been screaming from the rooftops for quite some time,” she added.Īccording to Fastmarkets’ O’Hara, North America is expected to be home to 19% of the world’s gigafactories by 2030, after Europe with 25% and Asia with 56%. It’s therefore absolutely possible that battery gigafactories will lack the batteries they need as a result of a lithium supply shortfall, Maryssael said. “There could be a potential oversupply with lithium raw material units, but when we’re talking about battery-grade lithium units that go into a cell, we still think that’s going to be a constraint long-term,” she added. Those specs are getting tighter, those requirements are getting tighter, so as long as we keep moving in that direction, it’s very hard to envision a world in which lithium becomes commoditized and we enter into a potential oversupply,” she told Fastmarkets. ![]() “There is no consensus across the industry as to what makes a lithium spec. ![]() The specifications for lithium are dictated by battery producers, she said, and are getting tighter, not more relaxed. Maryssael noted that it is important to distinguish between lithium raw material units and battery-grade lithium. “I do believe we’re going to be in a structural deficit that is here to stay,” she added.įastmarkets analyst Phoebe O’Hara said she expects the lithium market to be in deficit until 2025, due to strong demand for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and, increasingly, energy storage systems (ESS). In an interview with Fastmarkets on Monday, June 5, Sarah Maryssael said that notwithstanding the possibility of more competition over chemistries in the future, the fact that commercial-scale battery technologies currently rely on lithium is driving the potential shortfall.
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