>> The last of the patents on LFP expired last year. Up until then, the patent holders made a deal where Chinese companies could produce the cells, but not expo

>> The last of the patents on LFP expired last year. Up until then, the patent holders made a deal where Chinese companies could produce the cells, but not export them << China did negotiate a deal with a patent consortium in Suisse to license LFP royalty-free for all domestic use. But then I wonder what the point was, since all foreign battery makers/patent holders such as LG (NCM), Panasonic (NCA) were required to give up their IP Rights in order to acces China's NEV market, or China would have ignored their IP Rights anyway. >> So that appears to be the reason for so much investment in the space in recent times. << Sure, there has been some improvement, but LFP is still mostly limited to entry-level, low-range EVs. The recent rise of LFP is largely attributable to the various COVID related auto component shortages and price spike in battery raw materials past few years. The average price of lithium however plunged by some 80% since last November and once 400+GWh new production capacity come up in the US, I suspect that LFP won't be as competitive.