New energy vehicle push excites base metal firms

China's ambitious bid to boost electric vehicles toward a battery-powered future can dramatically drive up demand for metals like lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel, industry insiders said.

"The rising EV (electric vehicle) market has driven up demand for some metals ... We expect the trend to continue," said Zhu Yi, senior analyst of metals and mining at Bloomberg Intelligence

In 2015, China overtook the United States to become the world's biggest market for electric cars, providing a huge domestic market for batterymakers.