The world’s No. 1 cobalt miner is sounding the alarm over the shrinking role of the metal in electric vehicle batteries. Chinese company CMOC Group Ltd., which has been churning out cobalt much faster than rivals like Glencore Plc, said the importance of the raw material in the energy transition is declining rapidly.
The adoption of cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries has gained momentum in recent years, due to them being cheaper to manufacture. The proportion of EV batteries in China containing cobalt will drop to 31% in 2024, from 44% two years ago, according to consultancy CRU Group.
“We predict that EV batteries will never return to the era that relies on cobalt,” Zhou Xing, a spokesman for CMOC, said in an emailed response to questions. “Cobalt is far less important than imagined” and the proportion of batteries containing the metal may eventually drop to less than a tenth, he said.
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