The electric vehicle industry must pay more for lithium in order to spur investment and prevent future supply crunches of the battery metal, the CEO of lithium producer Livent has said.
Demand for EVs is expected to surge in coming years, spurred in part by government mandates, rising concern about climate change and other factors.
But the coronavirus pandemic has paused that trend, causing a short-term oversupply of lithium, pushing down prices more than 10% this year and forcing producers of the white metal to halt expansion projects.