Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt directly from miners for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter, seeking to ensure it will have enough of the key battery ingredient amid industry fears of a shortage driven by the electric vehicle boom.
And:
About a quarter of global cobalt production is used in smartphones.
It’s a race to lock up cobalt supply, a race between smart phones and tablets, versus the emerging electric car market.
Apple should talk to SpaceX and grab a few meteorites…
Probably not coincidentally, it also puts Apple closer to the extractors themselves. They’ve made it clear in their environmental and human rights reports that they are keeping that a priority.
IF cobalt is this scarce the electric car market is doomed for two reasons. First, almost no one would give up their smartphone for an electric car. Second, because the share of market for electrics is tiny and if cobalt is this important and constrained there’s no way that share can grow to be significant.
The most likely outcome is that cobalt mining will rapidly expand to meet demand.
I think you’re right that if it’s a matter of phones vs cars, cars using ~1000x as much, phones will win, for the simple reason that phones are valued much higher per unit of battery capacity.
More likely the old adage will prove correct: the cure for high prices is high prices. The market will do its job, find more cobalt sources, and it’ll be even odds we end up with a glut.
In the meantime Apple is in an excellent position as no other company can match its resources.
<
blockquote>Google is giving me 97 US dollars hourly to complete few services onnet .. Work only for just few hours & stay more time with your own family … You can apply this best post!this Tuesday I purchased a great new Land Rover Defender just after earning $12654 last four weeks .it looks nicest-work however you could not forgive yourself if you don’t read it.!ch72x:➛➛➛ http://GooglePostFreelanceJobs/earn/cash/$97/perhour… ♥♥j♥♥q♥♥b♥♥♥p♥♥m♥♥g♥j♥♥z♥c♥♥g♥♥♥k♥y♥♥t♥♥w♥♥♥q♥♥y♥♥♥i♥♥b♥♥♥s♥r♥♥♥q♥♥♥x♥♥♥u♥♥t♥♥g:::::!lf972gf