Samsung’s new batteries need a lot of silver. And the company will pay whatever is needed to get that silver. They just entered an agreement to buy two years’ worth of silver and zinc concentrates from Canadian miner Silver Storm Mining.
Samsung’s new silver-based solid-state battery technology could require roughly 1 kilogram (1,000 grams) of silver per car, with estimates of about 5 grams of silver per battery cell in a typical 100 kWh pack, a massive jump from the grams used in today’s traditional EVs. This substantial silver content, used in the anode for enhanced performance, means widespread adoption would significantly increase global silver demand.