Stellantis presented 2 battery chemistries on EV day that don’t use cobalt in batteries
This article says it better than I can:
Researchers say they’ve cracked the code to a cobalt-free high-energy lithium-ion battery, eliminating the cobalt and opening the door to reducing the costs of producing batteries while boosting performance in some ways.
www.sciencedaily.com
“Cobalt is the least abundant and most expensive component in battery cathodes,”
Not using cobalt and the cheaper (Fe-Mn-x) chemistry makes it possible that they can hit the 40% cheaper target. Using iron does have trade offs but we won’t know how significant until they make them.