Investing in Lithium

There are generally two ways to invest in this metal. You can directly buy stocks in companies involved in lithium mining or in lithium-ion battery production or usage. If you don't have the skills, knowledge or time, you can get involved in funds that invest in companies of this type and let them do the work for you.

The success of your investment will depend on the sustained sales of mobile devices, the increased popularity of electric cars and the expansion of renewable energies; and as far as we know, people nowadays can't survive without smartphones. All these devices need lithium-ion batteries, and as such the demand for the metal will only keep growing. Smartphone shipments worldwide are projected to add up to around 1.7 billion units in 2020. By 2021, 40% of the world's population is projected to own a smartphone.

Electric car deployment has been growing rapidly over the past ten years, with the global stock of electric passenger cars passing 5 million in 2018, an increase of 63% from the previous year. Around 45% of electric cars on the road in 2018 were in China – a total of 2.3 million – compared to 39% in 2017. In comparison, Europe accounted for 24% of the global fleet, and the United States 22%.