Global Battery Raw Materials

The global lithium market has experienced unprecedented volatility over the last three years—from historic peaks in December 2022 to sharp corrections in 2025 and now renewed stabilization in early 2026. As the energy transition matures, understanding these complex price dynamics and regional supply chain shifts is critical for industry stakeholders. 

Graphite remains one of the weakest links in battery supply chains, with exposure across natural graphite mining and China-dominated purification and synthetic graphite capacity. This talk separates near-term risks from longer-term anode shifts, covering natural versus synthetic graphite, supplier qualification, cost and emissions trade-offs, silicon adoption limits, and recycling’s limited role before 2030. It will outline practical mitigation paths for automakers, cell makers, and investors.

4th generation LFP constitutes a technological breakthrough and a fundamentally higher cathode material standard. Its emergence has far-reaching implications that could upheave global battery investments, supply chain structures, market competition and geopolitics. Taylor will especially examine the shift in lithium feedstock preferences and the wider impact on the lithium industry.

Critical minerals, materials, and components of electric vehicle batteries are produced in different global regions and shipped to EV applications in different countries. The global nature of the EV battery supply chain affects the carbon intensities, as well as the economics, of batteries. Argonne National Laboratory has been simulating global battery production with its R&D GREET model. This presentation will cover variations in the carbon intensities of the global battery supply chain.

The Lithium Triangle hosts over half of the world’s lithium brine resources and is critical to the energy transition. Conventional evaporation processes face limitations including long processing times, moderate recoveries, high land use, and water impacts. Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technologies offer higher recoveries, lower environmental footprint, and greater operational flexibility. This presentation reviews selected DLE technologies under evaluation for deployment across representative salars in the region.

COnovate offers battery cell manufacturers a cost-effective, drop-in anode additive for LFP cells used in battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other applications. This solution will provide an elegant, fundamental way to accurately correct SOC during normal operations. The result will be reduced operating costs for system owners, lower capex through right-sizing the system and reduced warranty exposure across the value chain for BESS applications.

Despite the North American battery industry continuing to expand, with major cell plants coming online throughout 2026 and beyond, the regional remains 100% exposed to foreign imports of precursor cathode active materials (pCAM). This critical vulnerability, starkly underscored by the January 2026 Section 232 'derivative products' action, leaves localized cell production deeply exposed. Project Positive+ directly mitigates this risk by onshoring a commercially proven, scalable pCAM manufacturing solution to North America, securing regional supply chain sovereignty.

This presentation will examine the US supply chain & the importance of investing in the midstream.

The high dependency on China and Chinese companies for key material inputs, especially in today's geopolitical environment, will continue to constrain EV adoption in the US market regardless of chemistry. Critical minerals policy won't remedy this situation as abnormal supply conditions continue to depress commodity prices and increase production risk. This talk will tie the headlines to the challenges currently plaguing battery supply chains.

Avicenne Energy will be presenting the major changes in electrification in ever expanding applications that will drive broader demand than just EV and emerging technologies that are becoming more available. Presentation will be focused on North America, but also highlight how the regions value chain is structured vs. other regions. Forecasts will cover both global and North America perspectives.

We will provide a comprehensive analysis of the latest data and trends in the EV industry. You’ll gain insights into top-selling models, identify the countries and regions leading in EV adoption, and understand what the future holds both in the short and long term. Additionally, we will translate these forecasts into actionable insights regarding battery demand, equipping you with a well-rounded understanding of the evolving landscape of electric vehicles. This session is designed to deepen your knowledge and stay ahead in the rapidly changing EV market globally.

The amount of geopolitical tumult impacting the financial and clean energy markets is unprecedented, and many think we are watching a movie we've never seen before. Higher interest rates, volatile metals prices, and policy uncertainty are three of a number of issues that are impacting the pace and trajectory of electrification. This presentation explores the impacts of all three and offers a way forward given that uncertainty is guaranteed.