McKinsey Vice President of Electric Vehicle Batteries: "Surging Manganese Demand... Substituting Nickel and Others"

"Global LFP Battery Demand Growth Rate Was 170% Last Year
But It Will Be Difficult for a Specific Raw Material to Dominate the Market"

"Nickel Production to Increase Tenfold... Affordable 'High Manganese' Will Emerge"

On the afternoon session of the 11th The Battery Conference held on the 17th at COEX, Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Ken Hoffman, Vice President of McKinzie's Electric Vehicle Battery Materials Research Group, is seen delivering an online presentation.
(Photo by Moon Chaeseok)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Ken Hoffman, former Vice President of the Electric Vehicle Battery Materials Research Group at the global consulting firm McKinsey, predicted that the competition to secure energy density through the acquisition of 'high manganese' will become even more intense in the future.

Vice President Hoffman made this claim on the afternoon online session of the 11th The Battery Conference held on the 17th at COEX, Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

According to him, the demand for LFP batteries produced by companies such as China's CATL increased by 170% last year compared to the previous year. This is due to the development of 'Blade Technology,' a technique that densely packs thin, long cells like blades. This technology fully utilizes the characteristic that the more components are packed into the battery space, the higher the energy density often becomes.

According to Vice President Hoffman, over the past decade, the amount of 'chemicals' such as nickel, manganese, and cobalt in batteries has significantly increased compared to the 'pack'; it rose from 45-55% ten years ago to 90% recently. However, since LFP batteries have relatively low energy density, he believes it will be difficult for them to achieve a 'long-term monopoly' status. His analysis is that they cannot guarantee the 'electric vehicle quality equivalent to that of a complete internal combustion engine vehicle' demanded by consumers worldwide.

Vice President Hoffman foresaw 'high manganese' emerging as a 'big trend' in the battery supply chain. He explained that manganese has ten times the production volume of nickel, whose price has recently surged, and is not lacking in raising energy density. He said, "Since manganese prices are relatively low, if more 'high manganese batteries' come to market, it will be possible to achieve very high energy density at a lower cost," adding, "There are already many pilot production plants for high manganese, and in the coming years, high manganese is expected to emerge as a 'big trend.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.