The 2026 Lithium Anthology: Part 1
2026 has been rather a roller coaster ride so far when it comes to lithium, and I have a feeling it is going to get even more exciting. We have lithium prices going up while, at the same time, actual production is paralleling consumption growth, which somewhat supports Benchmark’s thesis that prices will dip in 2027. But that will more than likely be the result of a correction due to an end-of-year rally and put prices back in line with where they should be.
Battery storage is growing at a rather impressive rate, and while I have talked about the misrepresentation it is causing in the context of the supply-and-demand landscape for lithium, there is another aspect showing up: the recycling of LFP, which is causing even more misinformation, and for some, they are using it to push fluff.
The Ascend Elements bankruptcy looks to be nearing its end, and with the 600 pages of documents I have been able to find, I have confirmation of what I have been calling the Bonehead Maneuver and that it was at the core of the company’s failure. But the solution may be what allows the company that emerges to continue and help develop a Western lithium-ion supply chain.
The latest news, of course, is that EV adoption is rising due to the conflict in Iran, with articles showing how fossil fuels are inadvertently accelerating the transition. But this is not new, and oddly enough the initial research was also started due to a conflict in the Middle East. Engineers years ago were looking for ways to utilize what had been thought of as waste from oil and gas production, to support an EV industry that had not been a thing since the early 1900s.
And lastly, I have talked about the segmentation of the EV market before and how automakers completely misread the market both here and in the EU. But there is a blame game going on where the media wants to point the finger at everyone but those who really created the problem.
Those are the topics I will be covering this Sunday, while I am working on an updated technical and regulatory look at using mining and manufacturing waste to produce critical materials.
