A 2017 Tesla battery has 4.8 kilograms of cobalt [1]. At $100/kg the Tesla uses $480 worth of cobalt. Two years ago at $25/kg it used $120 worth of cobalt. So $

A 2017 Tesla battery has 4.8 kilograms of cobalt [1]. At $100/kg the Tesla uses $480 worth of cobalt. Two years ago at $25/kg it used $120 worth of cobalt. So $360 or 1.2% more for a $30,000 car. This is important to a some people at Tesla who will try to reduce cobalt usage, to battery recyclers, and to cobalt mine owners. It is only interesting to everyone else (us). This is not China winning or beating the US or anything like that. China has pricey cobalt too. And the best way to minimize the effect of very minor supply disruptions like this is more free trade so that when the price goes up someone opens a mine in Australia and it can be bought there. The historic shortages mentioned in these comments were in the era of protectionism. That is why economists are afraid of Trump's trade war ideas, these little problems will add up and cost the US in higher prices. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-09-28/cobalt-s-chemistry-experiment https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-09-28/cobalt-...