[SMM Weekly Review] Second-Life Application Market Prices Rise, Cost Support Effect Significant, 2026.4.20-2026.4.23

Published: Apr 23, 2026 16:49

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This week, the second-life battery market saw overall prices edge up, with market conditions rising on cost support and demand boost. Cost side, prices of major lithium battery raw materials diverged this week. Lithium carbonate prices maintained a fluctuating yet upward trend, providing notable support to overall costs. Nickel sulphate prices edged up in tandem, while cobalt sulphate prices remained stable and edged down slightly. Under the combined effect of various raw materials, the cost side of second-life battery cells overall stayed high. Supply side, shipment pace of second-life battery cells as well as Grade A and Grade B battery cells for well-known mobile phones from battery cell manufacturers remained largely stable. The volume of goods circulating in the market showed no significant increase or decrease, and the supply side maintained an overall stable trend without causing notable disruption to market prices. Demand side, as lithium, cobalt, nickel and other salt products continued to fluctuate at highs over the long term, elevated costs provided strong support to second-life battery market prices, thereby driving overall market prices to edge up recently. Among them, high-demand battery cells in the ESS sector saw more significant price increases. Prices of mainstream ESS-grade battery cells such as Grade A 314Ah and 280Ah models continued to rise, with current price levels gradually approaching those of brand-new battery cells.

SMM April 23 News:

Second-life application weekly update:

The overall second-life battery market prices edged up this week, with market conditions rising on cost support and demand boost. Cost side, prices of major lithium battery raw materials diverged this week. Lithium carbonate prices maintained a fluctuating upward trend, providing notable support to overall costs. Nickel sulphate prices edged up in tandem, while cobalt sulphate prices remained stable and edged down slightly. Under the combined effect of various raw materials, second-life battery cell costs overall stayed high. Supply side, shipments of second-life battery cells as well as Grade A and Grade B battery cells for well-known mobile phones from battery cell manufacturers maintained a generally stable pace, with no significant increase or decrease in circulating supply, and the supply side maintained a stable trend overall without causing notable disruption to market prices. Demand side, as lithium, cobalt, nickel and other salt products fluctuated at highs over an extended period, elevated costs provided strong support for second-life battery market prices, thereby boosting overall market prices to edge up recently. Among them, high-demand battery cells in the ESS sector saw more significant price increases, with prices of mainstream ESS-grade models such as Grade A 314Ah and 280Ah battery cells continuing to rise, with current price levels gradually approaching those of brand-new battery cells.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Lei Yue 021-20707873

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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