RANKED: Top 10 automakers by battery cobalt spending

[Redator]

Congo’s export quotas have lit a fire under cobalt prices and spending on the battery material is up 43% year on year despite ongoing thrifting. 

A surge in supply from the Congo, responsible for 80% of the world’s cobalt output, coupled with cooling demand from the electric vehicle market, saw cobalt prices sink to historic lows at the start of 2025.

Copper production in the DRC increased by nearly 40% last year, but last week Kinshasa began implementing a quota system to replace a ban announced in February Allowed base volumes of 87,000 tonnes per year is around half total exports registered in 2024.  

The price of cobalt sulphate entering the EV battery supply chain in China is now trading over 120% higher than at the start of the year averaging $7,775 a tonne in September (still nowhere near the 2022 peak of $19,000 per tonne). 

Tender cancelled

Cobalt prices would likely remain elevated and could rise further under the quota scheme put in place for 2026 and 2027. That would have played a part in the US Dept of War cancelling a $500 million tender to stockpile the metal. The CEO of the world’s number one producer of cobalt, China’s CMOC Group, also warned last week that cobalt at these levels could lead to demand destruction and substitution, although that has been a long-running trend for cobalt users.    

Cobalt consumption in EV batteries overtook other sources of demand like aerospace several years ago and the downstream impact of the DRC strategy has been swift.  

The latest data from Toronto-based research consultants Adamas Intelligence tracking global EV battery metal deployment paired with monthly prices shows the size of the battery cobalt market in September totalled an estimated $227.7 million. That’s the highest value since December 2022, and up just shy of 111% year on year and 32% month on month.  

So far this year the value of installed cobalt tonnes in EV batteries total $1.1 billion, up 43% compared to the same period last year. The sales weighted average value of the cobalt contained in EV batteries has hit $73 per vehicle, up from less than $40 at the start of the year. 

Keeping in mind that the installed tonnage does not take into account any losses during processing, chemical conversion or battery production scrap (often well into double digit percentages), so required tonnes and revenues are meaningfully higher at the mine mouth.

Thrifting

The turnaround in fortunes comes despite years-long thrifting by EV battery manufacturers and the rise of LFP or lithium iron phosphate batteries. Models fitted with LFP batteries now make up more than 40% of global EV sales even when including conventional hybrids where nickel metal hydride power packs dominate.  Excluding HEVs the number of EVs sold this year without nickel, cobalt or manganese rises to 55%.  

The top 10 includes only three Chinese brands, an indication of LFP’s grip on the world’s largest EV market by a country mile.

The top automaker based on cobalt spending is Volkswagen at $150.5 million. Volkswagen, and its many brands including Audi, Skoda, Cupra and Porsche, is having a bumper year with full electric and plug-in hybrid sales up 45% year on year for the first eight months of 2025. That it tops the charts on cobalt spending is an indication of its heavy reliance on NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) battery chemistries compared to rivals. 

Number two Geely, which owns among others the Volvo and Polestar brands,  spent $106.2 million over the first eight months of the year, a 19% jump, while Tesla’s spending increased by 31% year over year to $94.1 million.  

Tesla first introduced LFP batteries into its line-up in 2020 and now 44% of Tesla battery packs hitting roads for the first time this year sport this cathode. That helps explain why the automaker sits at number three for cobalt while consistently topping the charts for overall battery metal consumption.

Lord of LFP

Other notable spenders include BMW Group (up 47% to $61.6 million) and rival Mercedes-Benz at $49.7 million, a 37% jump compared to last year. LFP is absent from both the German luxury brands’ EV portfolio. NCM is still the preferred battery for higher end and sporty models, but LFP has been eating into NCM’s market share in these segments too with BMW introducing the technology in its upcoming Neue Klasse EVs scheduled to go on sale next year.  

Conspicuous by its absence is BYD, the world’s number one EV maker. The Shenzhen-based company switched to an all-LFP model line-up when it introduced its Blade battery packs in 2020, giving it an edge over rivals in the cutthroat market in China and its expanding tireprint in the rest of the world. With lithium prices also showing signs of life, BYD’s cost advantage will erode over the coming months.

Blade runners: how LFP batteries brought EV metal markets back to earth