The document analyzes the growing global demand for lithium driven by increasing adoption of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage. It forecasts that global lithium demand will increase over 5 times from 181kt in 2015 to 535kt by 2025 as battery consumption grows exponentially. While the lithium market was in deficit in 2015-2016, the report expects new hard rock mining projects and expansions of brine production to bring the market into balance by 2017. It identifies companies with Tier 1 lithium assets that are well positioned to capitalize on the battery thematic over the long term, such as Albemarle, Orocobre, and Mineral Resources.