By 2025 , the demand for lithium will be five times higher than 2017 levels , according to Paul Graves , CEO of lithium supplier Carbon . Yet investors aren’t immediately swayed, focusing instead on concerns new supply may flood the market in the short term, and on the material’s decline in 2018 after a rally that tripled prices in the three years through 2017. With electric vehicle ( EV ) production expected to dramatically increase in 2023 and 2024 , there is a fear that supplies of lithium , a key EV battery element , will not be able to keep up with demand . Investors looking at the currently flooded market have little confidence , as the element 's value has dropped in 2018 , resulting in a number of firms struggling to raise the necessary funds to expand .
By 2025 , the demand for lithium will be five times higher than 2017 levels , according to Paul Graves , CEO of lithium supplier Carbon . With electric vehicle ( EV ) production expected to dramatically increase in 2023 and 2024 , there is a fear that supplies of lithium , a key EV battery element , will not be able to keep up with demand . Investors looking at the currently flooded market have little confidence , as the element 's value has dropped in 2018 , resulting in a number of firms struggling to raise the necessary funds to expand .