Forget Cobalt, Lithium is the Key Strategic Resource

Tesla’s across-the-fleet price increase this month was due in part to supply constraints of key metals used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries, specifically lithium.  

While the price of cobalt and nickel have steadily fallen this year due to ample supplies from places like the DR Congo (cobalt) and Indonesia (nickel), lithium is proving much harder to source in the quantities needed to meet market demand.

  • Get a daily email packed with the latest China-Africa news and analysis.
  • Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China-Africa relations.
  • Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in Africa and throughout the Global South.

China, Africa and the Global South... find out what’s happening.

Subscribe today for unlimited access.

OR

Already a subscriber? Log in Click Here to Learn More
by Eric Olander

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
3
Chinese Cargo Planes Secretly Ferrying Supplies to Iran, Claim Online Sleuths
4
Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors
5
Thailand in Last-Minute U.S. Talks as 36% Tariff Looms
6 Trump’s Contradictory Iran Strategy Leaves U.S. Weaker After War’s End, Says Chinese Commentator

You Might Like

China’s Cobalt Mining Giant in the DR Congo is in Trouble (Again)

The phone many of you are using to read this article and all those electric vehicles on the roads rely on cobalt, a strategically vital metal that comes from one of the saddest ...

Two Events in China and the DR Congo Illustrate Why the Race for Cobalt Supplies is So Important

Soaring demand for electric cars and trucks is sparking a buying frenzy for the critical ingredients used to make the batteries in those vehicles, namely cobalt. Prices for the metal ...

DRC Take Note: China’s BYD Says It’ll No Longer Used Cobalt in Its Electric Vehicles

Shenzhen-based electric vehicle giant BYD (aka Build Your Dreams), the world’s second-largest EV-maker, recently made a stunning announcement that it will no longer use cobalt in any of its ...

The Road to a Clean Energy Future Runs Through the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The former President of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jeanine Mabunda Lioko, wrote an impassioned appeal for the world to recognize the important contribution that the DRC will make to the ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

More about CGSP