Tool
What would it take?
Pick a technology and a quantity. The calculator multiplies out the material bill and puts each total next to the entire world’s annual production of that material — which is usually the number that changes how the answer feels.
1,000,000 × NMC Lithium-Ion Battery — The high-energy chemistry — nickel, manganese and cobalt in the cathode — used where range matters most.
Quantities are per 75 kWh pack indicative range tonnes of contained material
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Material | Per unit | Total, low | Total, high | World annual production | Share of a year’s supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphite Roughly 1 kg of anode material per kWh. | 50.00–80.00 kg | 50,000 t | 80,000 t | 1.80 million tMine production, 2025 | 4.4% |
| Nickel NMC811 cathode is roughly 0.7 kg Ni per kWh. | 40.00–60.00 kg | 40,000 t | 60,000 t | 3.90 million tMine production, 2025 | 1.5% |
| Aluminium | 20.00–35.00 kg | 20,000 t | 35,000 t | 74.00 million tSmelter production, 2025 | 0.0% |
| Copper | 15.00–25.00 kg | 15,000 t | 25,000 t | 23.00 million tMine production, 2025 | 0.1% |
| Cobalt Falls sharply as cathodes move from NMC622 to NMC811. | 5.00–9.00 kg | 5,000 t | 9,000 t | 310,000 tMine production, 2025 | 2.9% |
| Lithium About 0.10 kg Li per kWh of cell capacity. | 6.00–9.00 kg contained lithium | 6,000 t | 9,000 t | 290,000 tMine production, 2025 | 3.1% |
| Manganese | 5.00–9.00 kg | 5,000 t | 9,000 t | 20.00 million tMine production, 2025 | 0.0% |
Intensity ranges are indicative, compiled from published technology studies and chemistry — not a manufacturer specification. World production is USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, 2025 (estimated), converted to tonnes of the same basis where the source reports thousands of tonnes or kilograms · source ↗. This is an educational order-of-magnitude tool. It is not a procurement estimate and must not be used as one.