Demand for lithium, one of the key materials used in making lithium ion batteries, is rising rapidly. The metal is used in a wide variety of industrial applications including glass, ceramics and greases, but it’s the use of lithium as a key component in the batteries that power electric and hybrid electric vehicles that has so excited markets.

If electric vehicles, which rely wholly or partly on electricity stored in batteries as their source of energy, revolutionize road transport in the way many expect, demand for the metal will rise exponentially. China will be at the forefront of this.

Fund manager Evy Hambro amasses stakes in small miners of metal used in vehicle batteries.

Several automakers have teamed up to create the IONITY electric charging network across Europe.

Roskill – The battery alliance brings the EU and a suite of largely German firms, including automakers Volkswagen and Daimler, engineering company Siemens, and chemical group BASF together.