Nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Nickel-rich cell prices follow nickel, cobalt, lithium and manganese in the cathode, plus graphite anodes and factory scale. They give long driving range, so demand comes mainly from premium electric cars.
Proxy US PPI: storage batteries excl. lead-acid index · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026There is no free public price for nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries itself, so this tab uses the closest public series as a stand-in. Read the numbers as an indication, not as the price of this exact item.
What its price moves with
Selected linkNickel-rich lithium-ion batteries and Nickel
Monthly changes -0.02 little or none correlation 12-month changes 0.23 weak correlation Last 5 years 0.11 monthly changes Lead or lag +2 mo Nickel tends to lead by 2 months (r 0.15) Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries ≈ 481.5 × (Nickel)-0.09 R² 0.03 On this fit, a 10% higher nickel price goes with a −0.8% lower nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries price over the long run. Units: index and $/mt. The fit is loose, so treat the function as a rough guide.Chart: Nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries and Nickel prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, log scale
Both prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, on a log scale so equal percentage moves look the same size.Chart: Nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries price against Nickel price, monthly, log scales, with fitted line
Each dot is one month; paler dots are older (2006), darker dots recent (2026); the ringed dot is the latest month. The dashed line is the fitted price function. Both axes are logarithmic.High-nickel cathodes hold most of their metal value as nickel, now largely supplied from Indonesia. The battery proxy is a broad US index, so it shows no clear link, with monthly moves at -0.02 and yearly moves at 0.23.
little or none co-movement month to month · 243 months Show chartsCobalt stabilises the cathode but is costly and mined mostly in the Congo, so makers keep reducing it. Cobalt price spikes push the industry towards higher nickel blends or towards cobalt-free LFP.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.NMC cathodes use lithium hydroxide, and lithium price swings were the largest driver of cell cost changes in recent years. The site has no lithium series, so this link is shown as text only.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.The cathode is the most expensive part of an NMC cell, and cathode makers price by formulas tied to metal prices. Cathode prices therefore pass nickel, cobalt and lithium costs straight through to cell makers.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.NMC cells use graphite anodes, increasingly blended with silicon. The graphite proxy, which mostly covers furnace electrodes, shows no link to the battery proxy, with monthly moves at 0.03 and yearly moves at 0.19.
little or none co-movement month to month · 243 months Show chartsLong-range electric cars are the main buyers of nickel-rich cells. The car price proxy reflects the whole US vehicle market, so it shows almost no link to the battery proxy, with monthly moves at 0.06.
little or none co-movement month to month · 243 months Show chartsHow to read these numbers
Correlation of monthly changes (the number in the coloured pill) compares how much each price moved, month by month, since 2006 or the first month both series exist. It runs from −1 to +1: near +1 the two usually rise and fall in the same months, near 0 there is no link, and a negative number means they tend to move in opposite directions. Above 0.7 is strong, 0.4 to 0.7 moderate, 0.2 to 0.4 weak.
12-month changes compare year-on-year moves, which shows whether two prices share the same cycles even when the month-to-month noise differs.
Price function is a straight-line fit of the two prices on logarithmic scales: price ≈ k × (partner price)β. β is how much this price moves, in per cent, for a 1% move in the partner over the whole period, and R² is the share of the variation the fit explains. Two prices that both drift up with inflation can fit well without any real link, so read it together with the monthly correlation.
Lead or lag checks whether the monthly correlation is clearly higher when one price is shifted by 1 to 6 months.
Correlation is not cause. The reasons on each card explain the economic link; the numbers show how strongly it has shown up in prices. Proxy series are US producer price indexes or related prices and can blur the real link.
Data: World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), October 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price indexes, IMF primary commodity prices and US EIA prices via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, retrieved November 2026. Calculations by this site.