The following contents are personal thoughts and are for reference only!
1. What caused the increase in nickel demand?
The large-scale production of new energy automobile batteries, to be precise, should be the price increase of nickel caused by the large-scale production of Tesla's 4680 battery. Tesla produced 6,543.8+0,000 4680 batteries this year 1 month. Don't think this is a lot. For Tesla, it is still a drop in the bucket. At present, Panasonic and other large battery manufacturers are ready to mass-produce Tesla 4680 batteries. The 4680 battery of 1GWh consumes 3086 tons of nickel sulfate, and the annual output of 4680 202 1 gwh is1gwh, but this battery was only produced at the end of 20021year. So it is conceivable how big the demand for this kind of battery is, which is also the reason for the sudden surge in demand for nickel, because
2. When will nickel fall back?
My personal guess is that it will gradually decline within six months. Although Tesla's 4680 battery may indeed bring revolution to the new energy automobile industry, the safety of the 4680 battery has yet to be verified. Tesla President Musk also admitted that there are still many problems with the 4680 battery, and it will take about three years to improve these problems. Therefore, although many companies do produce 4680 batteries this time, it is not too much for Tesla's demand, but it is only produced in small batches to verify all aspects of battery performance. So the price of nickel should come down within six months. Note here that after three years, if Tesla improves the 4680 battery, the prices of nickel and lithium will skyrocket.
Generally speaking, the demand for nickel has increased this time because Tesla needs to produce a large number of 4680 batteries, and the most consumed battery of 4680 is nickel sulfate.