In brief The midstream for battery materials represents a bottleneck for European battery production. National governments in Asia and North America are imposing protectionist measures to secure raw materials and achieve self-sufficiency. A pan-European multi-disciplinary alliance across the battery value chain may be the answer.
The potential for geographical shift in the midstream battery supply chain is greater. In 2022 China accounted for a major share of the processing of key battery materials: about 65% of the world’s lithium, 74% of cobalt, 100% of graphite and 42% of copper processing.
B attery midstream production runs from the moment ore and minerals have been extracted from the ground, to the start of the battery production process. Midstream production has primarily been driven in Asia-Pacific with industries in the West focusing mostly on automotive and downstream battery manufacturing markets.
The upstream stage in batteries involves the extraction of key raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite. In the midstream stage, mined raw materials are refined and processed to create active cathodes and anodes—the positive and negative electrodes for a battery, respectively—which are then manufactured into a battery cell.
As demand for electrical energy storage scales, production networks for lithium-ion battery manufacturing are being re-worked organisationally and geographically. The UK - like the US and EU - is seeking to onshore lithium-ion battery production and build a national battery supply chain.
A gap in the European battery midstream is a hurdle to building a sustainable, domestic value chain. The electrification imperative is forecast to create a ~5TWh (terawatt-hours) global opportunity by 2030¹ for battery demand across the mobility and static energy storage landscape.