NiMh Battery Alert

[SilverFox]

Has anyone been following the price of Nickel?

A year ago, Nickel was selling for around $7 per pound. Now it is up over $20 per pound.

I don't have a crystal ball, but I believe that once the current stock of NiMh batteries is sold out, then next batch will have significantly higher prices. I have heard casual comments that dealers putting in stock orders are shocked at how high wholesale battery prices have gone up.

If you have plans to purchase some NiMh batteries, I would suggest that you do it sooner, rather than putting it off.

Tom

 

[jtr1962]

This makes me glad I pretty much have all the cells I need for now but I can't see how this could result in much of a price increase. Consider that a AA cell doesn't weigh much over an ounce, and not all of that is nickel, so how much more is the nickel in one cell actually costing? Maybe $0.25? This kind of reminds me of other instances where the cost of the raw materials might be ten cents more and the manufacturers suddenly charge a dollar more. Besides that, when the price of the raw material goes back down to its original levels the price never does. I hope NiMH cell manufacturers don't start playing this silly game now.

 

[wptski]

They "always" have a reason to raise the price of gas don't they?? KaChung, KaChung!! What will that do to the price hybrid cars?

 

[matrixshaman]

Thanks for the warning Silverfox. I wonder by weight how much Nickel is actually in a battery.

 

[Eskimonio]

Thanks for the head's up...glad I picked up some Hybrids recently.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Jtr,

Good points.

I don't know how much Nickel is used in a cell, however let's just throw some number out.

With AA cells in the 27 g to 29 g range, that comes close to around 1 ounce.

If Nickel makes up one third of that (a wild guess) we have:

Nickel cost of about $0.14 per cell when Nickel was $7 per pound and this jumps up to around $0.41 per cell with current Nickel costs. That is an increase of $0.27.

EDIT: EngrPaul came up with the Nickel content being about one fourth of the weight of the cell. Using these figures we end up with the cost of Nickel being roughly $0.11 for $7 per pound Nickel and $0.31 for $20 per pound Nickel, and a difference of $0.20. ENDEDIT

Looking at 2600 - 2700 mAh batteries, I find pricing in the $2.50 - $3.50 per cell range. If we pick $3.00 per cell, this would only increase the price about 9% if they only raised the price to reflect the increase in raw Nickel material costs.

However, it seems that there has also been an increase in the other materials used in battery manufacturing as well.

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out, but I would not be surprised if our $3 cell ends up selling for closer to $4.

Once again, I don't have a crystal ball, so it is all speculation.

Tom

 

[EngrPaul]

Nickel content is about 1/4 by weight.

 

[soffiler]

...If Nickel makes up one third of that (a wild guess) we have:

Nickel cost of about $0.14 per cell when Nickel was $7 per pound and this jumps up to around $0.41 per cell with current Nickel costs. That is an increase of $0.27.

Looking at 2600 - 2700 mAh batteries, I find pricing in the $2.50 - $3.50 per cell range. If we pick $3.00 per cell, this would only increase the price about 9% if they only raised the price to reflect the increase in raw Nickel material costs.It will be very interesting to see how this plays out, but I would not be surprised if our $3 cell ends up selling for closer to $4...

Hi Tom:

With a "street price" of about $3 per cell, I bet the manufacturing costs are in the $1 range. The increase in Nickel pushes the mfg cost to $1.27 and with the same markup system (it won't change, believe me) the new "street price" goes to roughly $3.81. I think you are right on the mark with your estimate of four bucks.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello EngrPaul,

Thanks for finding that. I have edited my post to try to come closer to what may be actual figures...

Tom

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Steve,

I know prices will be going up, I just haven't heard how much. I am just playing around with the numbers.

Tom

 

[MorePower]

Hi Tom:

With a "street price" of about $3 per cell, I bet the manufacturing costs are in the $1 range. The increase in Nickel pushes the mfg cost to $1.27 and with the same markup system (it won't change, believe me) the new "street price" goes to roughly $3.81. I think you are right on the mark with your estimate of four bucks.

Well, the "street price" for an alkaline AA cell is around $1, but manufacturing costs are pretty close to $0.08-0.10. Final cost to consumer is much higher compared to manufacturing costs than most people think, especially for commodity items. I'd be very suprised if cost to make a Nimh AA cell is much more than $0.30. Still, with raw material costs rapidly rising, we can definitely expect bump in retail prices sooner or later.

 

[FlashCrazy]

I wonder if my wife is going to believe all of this when I say "Honey, that's why I had to buy 10 dozen batteries now...go look on CPF for yourself."

 

[SilverFox]

Hello FlashCrazy,



Tom

 

[soffiler]

Well, the "street price" for an alkaline AA cell is around $1, but manufacturing costs are pretty close to $0.08-0.10. Final cost to consumer is much higher compared to manufacturing costs than most people think, especially for commodity items. I'd be very suprised if cost to make a Nimh AA cell is much more than $0.30. Still, with raw material costs rapidly rising, we can definitely expect bump in retail prices sooner or later.

Hi MorePower:

Well, I'm not most people; I am a manufacturer. Not batteries, but, I have at least a little clue about markups. And we're just tossing numbers around, as Silverfox said.

Note that alkaline AA cells aren't a buck; they are available online for as little as $.35 each. If mfg cost is in the .08-.10 range, the markup isn't much different from the 3:1 I tossed out casually for the NiMH. When I said "street price" I enclosed it in quotes because it's not literally the retail price on the street (brick and mortar) - I meant it to be the best price obtainable, as, I think, Silverfox meant when he cited the range of $2.50-3.50.

I'd be very surprised if the cost to make a 2600-2700 mA-hr NiMH AA(which Silverfox specified in his example) is as little as $0.30. The old-school 1700's, um, maybe.

Certainly we can all agree that this news of rising Ni prices is going to have a noticable impact on NiMH pricing.

 

[bwaites]

The price already has jumped on new orders.

We have been working on an order for 5Ah 1/2D cells and the cost has increased signigicantly over what had been quoted last year.

Bill

 

[IsaacHayes]

Well, I could use some more eneloops, but my other C cells are fine although a bit dented, I'm not going out to purchase replacements anytime soon.

 

[EngrPaul]

How much extra is that per recharge?

 

[LuxLuthor]

The obvious answer is to get rid of all your battery powered devices.

 

[MorePower]

Hi MorePower:

Well, I'm not most people; I am a manufacturer. Not batteries, but, I have at least a little clue about markups. And we're just tossing numbers around, as Silverfox said.

I know we're just tossing numbers around, but I've got a bit of an inside track on the battery business, so I thought I'd chime in with some closer tosses, that's all. When I get back from paternity leave in mid-April, I'll see if I can find out my company's actual costs and bump this thread back to the top.

Note that alkaline AA cells aren't a buck; they are available online for as little as $.35 each. If mfg cost is in the .08-.10 range, the markup isn't much different from the 3:1 I tossed out casually for the NiMH. When I said "street price" I enclosed it in quotes because it's not literally the retail price on the street (brick and mortar) - I meant it to be the best price obtainable, as, I think, Silverfox meant when he cited the range of $2.50-3.50.

B&M price for non-private label, high capacity Nimh AA cells is pretty close to $3.50 per cell, so I guess I just chose to take the high end of the range guesstimated by Silverfox. Non-private label alkaline AA cells are right around $1 each in stores as well, and I know for a fact that $0.08-0.10 is manufacturing cost for them, depending on US or China production.

I'd be very surprised if the cost to make a 2600-2700 mA-hr NiMH AA(which Silverfox specified in his example) is as little as $0.30. The old-school 1700's, um, maybe.

If the 1700's were only $0.30 to make, I can guarantee that the higher capacity cells don't cost more than $0.35 to make, barring increased raw material costs. The additional active material is a small portion of the cost to make a cell. The same production lines can be used with minor modification. Higher capacities in batteries are most often achieved by thinning non-actives (separators, gaskets, current collectors, cans) and increasing actives to take up the new volume. Improvements in the materials used can also help, and sometimes even reduce costs. The reductions in the non-actives also partially offset the cost increase to add more active material.

Certainly we can all agree that this news of rising Ni prices is going to have a noticable impact on NiMH pricing.

I'm sure it will, just as increased zinc, copper, and especially indium costs caused jumps in the price of alkaline cells.

 

[TorchBoy]

Based on the capacity there's about a third the amount of nickel in an AAA cell as there is in an AA cell but they're often (or even normally) sold for the same price. Can we conclude that material cost isn't a biggie?