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Cobalt Reference Rate — 10-Day Trend
All prices in ₹ per gram · daily rate, updated once per day
A Battery Chemistry Built Around Not Needing Cobalt
Lithium iron phosphate — LFP for short — swaps out the nickel-manganese-cobalt mix found in many EV battery cathodes for lithium, iron and phosphate instead. Iron and phosphate are both cheap and abundant; cobalt is neither. That single substitution is reshaping a meaningful share of global battery demand. Today's cobalt reference rate is ₹3.56 per gram on September 17, 2026 — a price LFP batteries simply don't respond to at all.
- 2024 global LFP share: nearly 50% of EV batteries deployed
- 2025 global LFP share: over 55%
- China's LFP share: roughly 60% of deployment
Cobalt Reference Rate by Weight
Today's Cobalt rate is Four Rupees per gram. At this rate, 10 grams of Cobalt costs Thirty Six Rupees.
| Unit | Weight | Price (INR) | Price in Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Gram | 1.0000 g | ₹3.56 | Four Rupees |
| 8 Grams | 8.0000 g | ₹28.50 | Twenty Nine Rupees |
| 10 Grams | 10.0000 g | ₹35.63 | Thirty Six Rupees |
| 100 Grams | 100.0000 g | ₹356.31 | Three Hundred and Fifty Six Rupees |
| 1 Kilogram | 1,000.0000 g | ₹3,563.08 | Three Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty Three Rupees |
| 1 Ounce (oz) | 28.3495 g | ₹101.01 | One Hundred and One Rupees |
| 1 Troy Ounce | 31.1035 g | ₹110.82 | One Hundred and Eleven Rupees |
| 1 Metric Ton | 1,000,000.0000 g | ₹3,563,080.00 | Thirty Five Lakh Sixty Three Thousand Eighty Rupees |
Why NMC Hasn't Simply Disappeared
Cost isn't the only variable that matters in an EV battery — energy density counts too, and this is where NMC still wins. Packing more range into the same battery weight and volume is exactly why premium and long-range vehicles have stuck with NMC even as LFP gets cheaper: LFP cells run roughly $80-100 per kWh in 2026 against $100-150 for NMC, a real cost gap that doesn't always outweigh the range difference for every vehicle segment.
Geography splits this market sharply
China's EV market leans heavily LFP, at close to 60% of deployment. Outside China, the picture flips — close to 80% of EV batteries still use nickel-containing chemistries like NMC, with most non-Chinese LFP supply itself sourced from Chinese manufacturers. US LFP adoption actually fell in 2025, reportedly reflecting tariffs on Chinese imports and sourcing rules tied to EV tax credits — a reminder that battery chemistry choices aren't purely technical, they're shaped by trade policy too.
| Trait | LFP | NMC |
|---|---|---|
| Contains cobalt? | No | Yes |
| 2026 cell cost | ~$80-100/kWh | ~$100-150/kWh |
| Energy density | Lower | Higher |
| 2025 global EV share | Over 55% | Remainder, concentrated outside China |
Cobalt Reference Rate — Last 10 Days
The most recent Cobalt price on record (2026-09-17) is Four Rupees per gram. This is down by Less than One Rupees from the previous day's rate of ₹3.60.
| Date | Price (INR/g) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-17 | ₹3.56 | -0.04 |
| 2026-09-16 | ₹3.60 | -0.06 |
| 2026-09-15 | ₹3.66 | -0.04 |
| 2026-09-14 | ₹3.70 | -0.04 |
| 2026-09-13 | ₹3.74 | +0.00 |
| 2026-09-12 | ₹3.74 | +0.00 |
| 2026-09-11 | ₹3.74 | -0.07 |
| 2026-09-10 | ₹3.81 | -0.09 |
| 2026-09-09 | ₹3.90 | -0.12 |
| 2026-09-08 | ₹4.01 | — |
What This Means for Cobalt's Longer-Term Demand Story
Every LFP cell manufactured is a battery that never needed cobalt in the first place, which makes LFP's growth a genuine structural headwind for cobalt's battery-demand pillar specifically. That's real and worth tracking — but cobalt's other major use, aerospace and industrial superalloys prized for heat resistance, sits entirely outside this substitution story and isn't affected by how many EVs ship with LFP batteries.
The comparison table and 10-day history above track cobalt's own price trend regardless of which battery chemistry is winning market share this year. For a longer view, the site's own cobalt price history page holds real recorded data by year and month.
LFP vs Cobalt Batteries — Common Questions
LFP stands for lithium iron phosphate — a battery cathode chemistry built from lithium, iron and phosphate instead of the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) mix used in many other EV batteries. Iron and phosphate are both abundant and inexpensive compared to cobalt, which is exactly why removing cobalt from the formula matters commercially.
LFP batteries accounted for over 55% of EV batteries deployed globally in 2025, up from nearly 50% in 2024 — a real, fast-moving shift, though the split varies sharply by region.
No. China leans heavily toward LFP, at roughly 60% of its EV battery deployment. Outside China, close to 80% of EV batteries still use nickel-containing chemistries like NMC, with most of the remaining LFP supply coming from Chinese manufacturers — a genuinely uneven global picture.
Energy density. NMC batteries pack more range into the same weight and size than LFP, which is why premium and long-range vehicles have leaned on NMC even as LFP's cost advantage grows — LFP cell costs run roughly $80-100 per kWh in 2026 versus $100-150 for NMC, a real, meaningful gap.
It's a genuine headwind for cobalt's battery demand specifically, since every LFP cell manufactured is one less battery needing cobalt. Cobalt's other demand pillar — aerospace and industrial superalloys — is unaffected by this shift, so LFP growth pressures one part of cobalt's demand story without eliminating the metal's relevance entirely.
