What's going on?

Volvo posted its highest yearly revenue ever on Friday, even as other carmakers struggled with shortages. So what�s the Swede�s secret?

What does this mean?

Volvo wasn�t about to let supply issues spoil its quintessentially upbeat Nordic mood last quarter, even if the company did sell 20% fewer cars and bring in 6% less revenue than the same time in 2020. The company is, after all, a poster child for adapting to survive: it brought in 7% more revenue in 2021 than the year before, and it sold 6% more cars too � many of which were its more expensive, more profitable models. Here�s hoping even higher prices don�t hamstring its fortunes this year: the carmaker said it�ll probably have to raise them on the back of higher raw materials costs.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: The clock is ticking.
6% of all the cars Volvo sold last quarter were battery electric vehicles (EVs), but that�s still � *does the math* � 94% less than its goal of exclusively selling EVs by 2030 (tweet this). So no more playing around: the company announced earlier this month that it�d be investing $1 billion in updating its Swedish manufacturing plant, as well as a joint $3 billion with battery-maker Northvolt to design and manufacture cheaper, more efficient batteries.

Zooming out: Lot of lithium stans out there.
Volvo isn�t the only carmaker going hard on EVs, and all that extra demand is sending prices of battery materials soaring. Take lithium carbonate, whose price was 569% higher last month than it was in January 2020. And since it can take as long as 10 years to open a new mine and boost supply, it could climb for a long time yet. So if carmakers don�t want EVs to become totally unaffordable, partnerships like the Volvo-Northvolt deal could be essential to finding new materials to use, along with new ways to use fewer of them.