The cost of lithium is unlikely to upend the price of Li-ion storage systems

• Recent instability in lithium market worrying to battery manufacturers, investors.
• Lithium is not a significant contributor to lithium ion cell mass or cost.
• Reduction in global li price (approx. $7.50/kg) to $0 decreases cell cost by <3%.
• Lithium price of $25/kg increases battery costs by <10%.
• Price changes will have minimal impact on consumers, could affect battery producers.

As lithium ion batteries become more common in electric vehicles and other storage applications, concerns about the cost of their namesake material, and its impact on the cost of these batteries, will continue. However, examining the constituent materials of these devices shows that lithium is a relatively small contributor to both the battery mass and manufacturing cost. The use of more expensive lithium precursor materials results in less than 1% increases in the cost of lithium ion cells considered. Similarly, larger fluctuations in the global lithium price (from $0 to $25/kg from a baseline of $7.50 per kg of Li2CO3) do not change the cost of lithium ion cells by more than 10%. While this small cost increase will not have a substantial impact on consumers, it could affect the manufacturers of these lithium ion cells, who already operate with small profit margins.