Andy Leyland (@andyleyland1 on X) is the founder and MD of Supply Chain Insights (@insights_SC on X). Supply Chain Insights is a leading advisory firm on all things related to the lithium ion battery supply chain.

Topics:

State of the LIB supply chain

China vs the rest of the world

Battery demand growth in 2025

Korea's bet on the US

Is LFP "the answer" for North America?

President Trump and critical metals

Market "reset" or "new normal"

CATL's lepidolite restart

Price in 2025 and beyond

The incentive price for western projects

Contracts: the latest trends

The cost curve

Conversion projects ex China

The change industry structure (Rio, Exxon, etc)

The futures market

The first episode of 2025 is a double episode covering the two most significant demand drivers of lithium: electric transportation and battery energy storage systems. My guests are two experts in their respective fields: Tu Le from Sino Auto Insights and Henrique Ribeiro from S&P Global.

Topics:

State of the NEV market

The rise of PHEVs

Autonomous vehicles

Zeekr (Geely) & Waymo

Top Chinese NEV companies

Tariffs

Tesla

Thinning the herd

Legacy OEMs: who survives?

FSD

Battery energy storage systems (BESS)

BESS impact on lithium demand

The economics of BESS

Sodium ion: not ready for prime time

How real is battery "second life"?

BESS in 2030

Daniel Jimenez and I discuss the following topics based on listener questions:

2024 Surprises

Lithium demand

Trends in EV adoption

PHEVs

BESS growth

The incentive price

The cost curve

Inventory

Rio - Arcadium

Africa's potential

Price

VW - Patriot

Canada

Argentina

Ex China conversion

LFP

The "Trump" impact

Rapid fire