The good news is that awareness of alternative battery chemistries has increased over the past few years, although their volume has not declined significantly.
Solar and wind developers have been open to experimenting with chemicals such as vanadium flow, and home energy storage companies have largely turned to safer lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.
The BloombergNEF report shows that diversification is also starting to appear in the mobile space, although it is mainly in lithium battery products. The key driver is concern over cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the use of child labor is well-documented, although Twitter flooded with news of electric car fires may also have taken a toll.
BNEF said automakers have "significantly increased" their commitment to LFP-based chemistries, including variants such as LMFP (lithium iron manganese phosphate) "where the addition of manganese will further increase energy density." With challenges in temperature range and recycling, BNEF expects these lithium changes to account for 42% of EV battery demand by 2023.
Despite these small steps, there is still a long way to go to eliminate the risks of lithium dominance. It is not only in the interest of lithium battery manufacturers to hear the interests of battery manufacturers of alternative chemistries, but it is also in the interest of lithium battery manufacturers to see multiple technologies succeed in the market.
Why? Because lithium's looming supply constraints mean that if lithium becomes so dominant that it becomes a bottleneck, the entire industry -- and the planet we're fighting for -- will suffer.
Matching chemicals to their highest and best use cases will ultimately benefit the entire industry. It will relieve pressure on the lithium extraction industry, ensure an available supply of lithium batteries benefits the most critical use cases, and enable electrification for mobility and grid resilience to flourish. When all battery chemistries thrive, all battery companies benefit.
BQC has been serving customers in the energy storage industry for several years, and has been learning relevant industry knowledge with a very modest and cautious attitude. Just to enable BQC to better provide customers with high-quality services, because the product is a whole, any change in any part may affect the function of the product, so we have been paying attention to relevant information.
