Electric battery industry to generate about 168 billion USD by 2030

In a report released a few hours ago, Global Data reports that battery industry revenue is expected to exceed US$168 billion by 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) by 14%.

The report states that the market will be driven up by sales of lithium-ion batteries.

According to Global Data analyst Michael Orme, it is the Chinese battery manufacturer CATL that today symbolizes this dominance.

“  CATL rose from almost nothing five years ago to capture more than 30% of the global market, which is twice the share of the former battery oligarch Panasonic. In 2018, CATL and Panasonic both had around 16% of the market  ,” he explains.

Despite this domination, explains the report, China cannot satisfy all of the world demand which is currently exploding, due to the ambitions of most car manufacturers in the electric sector.

The report indicates that the production of the metals essential to this industry does not follow the same curve as the demand, taking into account the time that it takes for example between the discovery of a deposit and the entry into production of a mine. to exploit it.

“  Governments must play a greater role in encouraging mining, refining and the production of battery cells […]. Lithium is plentiful, but significant investment is needed in new hard rock mines to meet the growing and rampant demand.” ,” said Daniel Clarke, another analyst at Global Data.

Experts note that this is an issue that some African countries, in this case Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) seem to have understood.

In addition to their efforts to increase their production of copper, they explain, the two main producers of red metal on the continent, the DRC, Mozambique and Zambia, are now working together to build a local industry for the transformation of their copper resources. lithium and cobalt, in order to supply the electric vehicle industry with materials for batteries.

Specialists say that until these plans materialize, Africa’s participation in the energy transition through metals is currently limited to supplying the raw material to American, Japanese and Chinese industries.

In recent years, several Congolese and Zambian companies have concluded agreements with mining companies active in strategic metal projects in Africa, whether lithium with CATL in Manono in the DRC, Mozambican graphite processed in the United States , or the Congolese cobalt on which the world depends for more than 70%.

Recall that a few days ago, a battery production plant was inaugurated in Lubumbashi in the province of Haut Katanga.

With the advent of this plant, the DRC intends to fully exploit its capacity to produce lithium, in particular with the new lithium deposit in Manono, in the province of Tanganyka.