Worth more than a nickel: Tesla sees revved up demand for the metal

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of California-based electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla, included in his most recent earnings conference call a plea for the basic material sector to supply sufficient nickel for the potentially booming EV battery market.

A report on the late July conference call by EV news website Electrek.com states, “If one thing transpired out of Tesla’s second quarter earnings [call], it’s that Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants more nickel.”

Tesla reported more than $100 million in net income for the second quarter of 2020, but also production limitations caused by COVID-19-related restrictions affecting the company’s factories. In terms of post-pandemic production constraints, Musk points to worries about EV battery supplies and supplies of the metals within them.

Regarding nickel in particular, Electrek quotes Musk as saying, “I’d just like to re-emphasize, any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel. Okay. Wherever you are in the world, please mine more nickel, and don’t wait for nickel to go back to some [price] high point that you experienced some five years ago.”

Musk further advocated for “environmentally friendly nickel mining at high volume,” saying, “Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time, if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.”

To what extent EV battery recycling can come to the rescue will be dependent on several factors, including the longevity of existing EV batteries and whether such batteries are repurposed or recycled for the metals within when the EV reaches the salvage stage.