Nickel-based batteries: What to track
Cadmium rules, Indonesian nickel policy and shrinking niche demand
What this tab covers The attributes worth tracking regularly, with the latest value, the direction of travel and why each matters.Track cadmium regulation, nickel market concentration and whether niche industrial demand holds up against lithium-ion and sodium-ion.
| Category | Attribute | Latest | Trend | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Techno-economic | LCOS trajectory | No published nickel-battery LCOS; US lithium-ion 4 h benchmark USD 210-292/MWh (Lazard, Jul 2026)7 | → stable | Nickel batteries stay off the grid-storage cost curve even though US lithium-ion LCOS rose in 2026 on tariffs. |
| Technical | Capacity fade and state of health | 1,000-2,000 deep cycles (NiCd, NiMH); up to 8,000 shallow cycles and over 20 years (Saft solar NiCd, manufacturer rating)1113 | → stable | Life depends heavily on depth of discharge; check warranties per asset. |
| Supply chain | Critical mineral cost and geopolitical concentration | Indonesia about 67% of nickel mining; China about 41% of cadmium refining (calculated, 2025)12 | ↕ volatile | Indonesian policy (export bans, quotas) moves nickel prices. |
| Market | Ancillary service market saturation | Not a grid-services technology; demand is backup power1 | → stable | Niche industrial markets are stable but shrinking. |
| Regulatory | Safety and environmental compliance | EU cadmium limit 0.002% for portable batteries; battery passport for industrial batteries above 2 kWh from 18 Feb 20275 | → stable | Industrial NiCd remains allowed but faces rising compliance cost. |
| Environmental | Lifecycle carbon payback period | No figure found in sources reviewed15 | → stable | Coal-powered Indonesian nickel processing raises embodied carbon. |
| Regulatory | NiCd recycling efficiency (technology-specific) | EU target 80% by end 20256 | → stable | Recycling performance is the main licence to operate for cadmium batteries. |
| Supply chain | Nickel price (technology-specific) | USD 15,000/t (2025, LME average)2 | ↕ volatile | Down from USD 25,815/t in 2022 as Indonesian supply grew. |
Sources
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cadmium US Geological Survey, 2026
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Nickel US Geological Survey, 2026
- SafeGuardS 115/23: EU issues new regulation on batteries and waste batteries (summary of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542) SGS, 2023
- Batteries and waste batteries: summary of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 European Parliament Legislative Observatory, 2023
- Lazard's Levelized Cost of Energy+ (LCOE+), July 2026 (LCOS v11.0 key assumptions p. 38; LCOE v19.0 assumptions p. 28) Lazard, 2026
- Saft Sun+ (Sunica) nickel-cadmium batteries for solar systems: datasheet (undated; file name suggests 2020; hosted by distributor Sabik Marine) Saft, distributed by Sabik Marine
- E-transportation: the role of embedded systems in electric energy transfer from grid to vehicle (Baronti, Chow, Ma, Rahimi-Eichi and Saletti), Table 1, EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systems 2016 SpringerOpen, 2016
- Indonesia: huge nickel project driving climate, rights and environmental harms (release of the report Nickel Unearthed) Climate Rights International, 2024