Steel supplier GrafTech (NYSE: EAF) has seen its shares crumble this year. But the company is one of the largest suppliers of a relatively unknown raw material that goes into lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs). Aside from the EV trend, there is another undeniable trend the company should benefit from. Here's what I mean.
As customers continue to embrace the EV trend, manufacturers will need more and more lithium-ion batteries every year to install in each car. One way lithium-ion battery manufacturers can make their batteries more efficient is by using a little-known raw material called needle coke. Graphite produced from needle coke has properties that make it one of the best materials to conduct electricity at higher temperatures.
Needle coke gives lithium-ion batteries higher energy density and allows them to charge faster. These are two of the most prominent selling points of electric vehicles, making needle coke a critical raw material in enabling the advancement of EVs.
For further details see:
How EVs Could Be a Game Changer for This Steel Supplier