Metal Bulletin Research Ten Year Strategic Outlook for the Primary Battery | Page 3

Battery Metals

7 Nickel Use in Batteries
are more convenient in this sector, making tools more manageable. However, this market segment could
be considered the last stronghold of nickel-based batteries as they are better able to cope with high-power
applications than lithium-based batteries of similar size. The lower lithium prices per tonne make nickelbased batteries less competitive, but high cobalt prices make some types of lithium-ion batteries less
competitive.

7.4 Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles
This section should be read in conjunction with sections 5.3 and 10 of this report.
Of the electric and hybrid vehicles in production at present, nickel-metal hydride batteries continue to be
the most frequently used battery type. All eyes are on the Li-ion battery to displace the Ni-MH battery as the
material of choice over the next decade, or even the next five years – however, given the wide range of car
types that fall into the electric vehicle category, their battery requirements vary significantly. In determining
the suitability of a particular battery type for auto use there are a number of factors that need to be
considered: energy density, life cycle, energy and power, and where rechargeable batteries are concerned,
memory as well. As such, although there is a trend away from nickel-based batteries in favour of lithiumbased ones the former is likely to maintain certain market niches.
Currently we estimate that lithium-ion batteries will become the predominant battery use in electric and
hybrid vehicles by 2015, and by 2023 nickel-based batteries will only hold 26% of the market, versus 77%
in 2012. See section 10 for further details.
Figure 7.3: Market Share Forecasts for Batteries in EV & HEV Sector

EV & HEV Battery Market Share

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%

Other
Ni-mh
Lithium based

20%
10%
0%

Source: MBR

7.5 Other Uses of Nickel in Batteries

Nickel is also used in the niche nickel-iron batteries and as part of structural alloys for nickel
manufacturing.
Alkaline batteries contain a small amount of nickel-plated steel in their structural material. Approximately
18% of the weight of an alkaline battery will be nickel-plated steel and between 8% and 12% of nickelplated steel will be pure nickel. Thus a tonne of alkaline batteries will contain an estimated 15-22kg of
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