The US and Europe face a looming shortage of cathodes that could leave automakers reliant on Chinese supply for production of electric vehicles, according to Benchmark. Investments in planned battery production capacity in Europe and the US grew rapidly in 2022, but the midstream has yet to catch up, according to James Mills, an analyst […]
> Escalating unrest in Mali, as jihadi groups target fuel convoys around the capital Bamako, has led several governments including France and the US to advise their citizens to leave the country. The attacks have created fuel shortages, and raised serious concerns around the military government’s ability to maintain its rule in the country. Mali is […]
> Europe’s cathode active material supply is set to increase 360% between 2025 and 2030, supported by a growing number of facilities owned by non-European companies. Despite this growth, Benchmark forecasts that European CAM supply will remain lower than the region’s cell production, meaning gigafactories will depend on imports. Europe’s cathode scene today The key European […]
> Benchmark has tracked over $50 billion of energy transition funding, throughout 2025 in its Energy Transition Capital database, with the largest share allocated to the battery supply chain. The role of debt, grants, and equity Debt The EV, battery, and battery materials markets have matured rapidly over the past few years. As a result, debt is playing an increasingly […]
> Following the continued evolution of the lithium ion battery supply chain, and as part of its rolling methodology review process, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence announces the opening of the 2025 annual public consultation period, for comment on Benchmark’s market-leading price assessment methodologies for lithium, nickel, cobalt, natural graphite, synthetic graphite, anode, cathode, black mass and rare […]
> The UK currently has no operating lithium extraction facilities. However, there are ambitious plans to develop this industry, with 97,000 tonnes LCE per year of nameplate capacity in the pipeline at various stages of funding and development. Direct lithium extraction (DLE) from geothermal brines accounts for 60% of this pipeline, according to Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast. […]
> On the 15th July, China’s Ministry of Commerce officially implemented restrictions on exports of technologies used in the production of high-density lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) cathode active materials (CAM), effective immediately. The export of some lithium processing technologies will also be restricted. Companies wishing to export these technologies for […]
> California has led the way in the electrification of the US’ vehicle market with one in four of all new vehicle sales in 2024 being an EV, higher than the country-level penetration rate of 10%. As the most populous state, it commands a large proportion of the total vehicle market (11%) but this is dwarfed […]
> The US and China have agreed to cut respective tariffs by 115 percentage points following two days of talks in Switzerland. The cuts are set to come into force on the 14th May and will remain in place for the next 90 days. It marks a thawing of relations between the two countries amid a […]