Cobalt (Co) is an element similar to lithium used in the manufacture of batteries for smartphones, engines and various other devices.

Due to the expansion of EVs and concerns about the lack of commodities for the production of batteries, the world's billionaires have started to invest in shares of metal producers. However, the value of cobalt is in the red numbers. While in March 2018 cobalt was at its historically highest level of $95,250 per metric ton, it dropped from the peak by approximately 66 percent to $32,638 per metric ton a month agso.

The significant drop in the price of the metal was mainly due to the cobalt oversupply. However, prospects for the future price developments remain positive due to the demand for batteries. Recent developments in cobalt market include the recent introduction of a new cobalt contract on the London Metal Exchange.

Billionaires Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, and Jeff Bezos have invested, through the Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), in the start-up Kobold Metals, which is working on developing "Google maps" focused on the Earth's crust to discover additional sources of cobalt. In most cases, the commodity is only a by-product of nickel and copper mining. Given the increasing number of electric vehicles, this method of obtaining an element may be insufficient in the future.

Cobalt reached a record low of $21,750 per metric ton in February 2016.