China News Network, April 4 (Zhongxin Finance Ge Cheng) Driven by the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market, China's power battery installed capacity has repeatedly reached new highs. As a major consumer of lithium resources, what impact will the sustainable development of new energy vehicles have on lithium resources? What are the price trends of the relevant raw materials?
At the "Yibin on the Cloud" high-end dialogue, the pilot event of the 4 World Power Battery Conference held on April 16, a number of industry experts and practitioners discussed the above issues.
Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that there is no problem with the global supply of lithium resources, and if calculated according to lithium equivalent, the recoverable reserves are close to 1 million tons, which is enough for the use of more than 70 billion vehicles.
Ouyang Minggao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Photo courtesy of the organizer
Despite the abundant reserves of lithium resources, the price of lithium-related raw materials has fluctuated significantly. Battery-grade lithium carbonate as an example, rose from 5,60 yuan per ton to 20,<> yuan in the previous two years or so, and recently quickly fell below <>,<> yuan per ton.
In this regard, Zhao Weijun, executive director and president of Envision Power Technology Co., Ltd. in China, analyzed that the reason why the price of lithium carbonate will "rise and fall" is because in the early stage of the development of "salt lake lithium extraction" technology, all parties cannot determine the prospects, resulting in its price at a low level; In the medium term, due to the stimulation of market demand, the capital of all parties entered the speculation, resulting in the rapid rise in the price of lithium carbonate; In the later stage, with the periodic release of production capacity, lithium carbonate has also returned to the essence of business, and the price has gradually become rational.
Ouyang Minggao believes that the "big ups and downs" of lithium carbonate prices are not conducive to the development of the industry. The reasonable price of lithium can not be too low, and the price of lithium carbonate is relatively reasonable at 10,20 yuan - <>,<> yuan / ton. "It is hoped that lithium prices will be in a reasonable range and not fluctuate too much in order to maintain the sustainable development of the industry."
According to Wu Kai, chief scientist of CATL New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., although the price change of lithium carbonate is difficult to predict, its price is always around its value. "The low-cost channels for lithium (resources) are brine from salt lakes, and there are some hard ores, mica or spodumene, and the price always moves around the value center."
In addition, Ouyang Minggao also said that in terms of lithium resources, the economy of imported products is still higher than that of domestic products. At present, the problem of high dependence on foreign countries of China's lithium resources still needs to be solved. In order to ensure the security of supply of domestic lithium resources, the first is to encourage recycling, and the second is to appropriately diversify development, such as sodium batteries. (End)