GreenergyDaily

May. 19, 2026

Tianqi Lithium, one of China's biggest producers, said even the most bullish forecasts for lithium demand may underestimate future growth.

The company's chief executive Frank Ha said while most forecasts factored in growing demand for the element used to make electric batteries over the next decade, many had not accounted for the rapid expansion of battery-powered trucks, mining equipment and ships. "This is going to be a huge increase," he told the FT.

Demand for lithium has risen by an average of about 30% annually this decade, compared with growth of roughly 10% in the 2010s, according to data from the International Energy Agency.

Forecasts from Wood Mackenzie, Project Blue, Fastmarkets and Mysteel show annual lithium demand will jump to between 3.6mn and 6.3mn tonnes over the next decade, from 1.1mn tonnes last year.

In March, Wood Mackenzie predicted annual lithium demand could exceed 13mn tonnes by 2050.

Ha argued that most lower-end forecasts were based on rising EV growth but did not yet fully account for demand from emerging sectors such as energy storage, AI data centres, humanoid robots and drones.