Energy rEVolution Ludicrous Mode: Elon Musk Disrupts The Disruptors - Tesla Powerwall 2.0 Priced At $393/kWh Has No Competition.

Elecktrek.

  Elecktrek reports the prices and specs comparison between Tesla Powerwall 2, LG Resu and SonnenBattrie. Tesla Powerwall is priced at $393/kWh before installation beating both competitors on costs of $923/kWh and $1,488/kWh respectively.  I cannot get prices for BYD B-Box yet - it will be very interesting to compare it to Tesla. Elon Musk again is ahead of the game  in a "Ludicrous Mode" with this very aggressive pricing  and disrupting the disruptors.  You can watch the video about Tesla Powerwall 2.0 and Solar Roofs. This the way to conquer the markets.

  Tesla will get the very significant head start to gain the market share even before Tesla Gigafactory is fully operational.  Thanks to "The Learning Cost" we already are getting the much better price compare to Tesla Powerwall, mass volume production will bring even this price down. Now more people will take Elon Musk's claims seriously that Tesla can produce lithium batteries with all-in pack cost at $190/kWh. We are entering the mass market for EVs and Energy Storage is following it with the exponential growth of Solar.

  Today's news from Toyota that they are moving towards lithium batteries as well will bring new demand to the very tight lithium market and we can expect now full electric cars from Toyota as well. Toyota means the mass market for the cars and this move can bring us new electric cars to ignite even more the Electric rEVolution. 

  FMC going for Nemaska lithium supply contract just confirms what we are discussing here: Security of Lithium Supply is the most important topic for all majors involved in this fast growing market. And there are only a very limited amount of the real projects which can deliver it. Lithium is the magic metal at the very heart of this Electric rEVolution.

Lithium Race: Tesla Model 3 Base Battery Less Than 60 kWh, “All-In” Pack Costs Already Under $190/kWh!

InsideEVs.

  "This is huge if Tesla Model S and X lithium batteries are already with "All-In" cost per kWh at $190! It is made on the very low volume and before Tesla Gigafactory. We are not even talking about the next step for Lithium Technology - Solid State Lithium Batteries. GM has reported before that GM Bolt will enjoy $145 per kWH pricing, but LG Chem was not very happy with that announcement - I personally suspect that LG Chem was going very aggressive in that pricing just to get into the first electric car for the mass market from GM. All recent developments are pointing out that adoption for Electric Cars will surprise everybody and this tide is coming to take the world over very fast. Read more."

Lithium Race: Which Will Be The First Country To Ban Fuel-Burning Cars: Norway, Netherlands, Germany, India or China?

  "Dr. Joe Romm provides us with more information on the recent decision of German Bundesrat to ban fuel-burning cars. This tipping point for electric cars to become the fast growing mass market is the result of the technological advance called "The Learning Curve" when doubling of production brings on average 26% in cost reduction. It is true for the price of Solar PV, it is even faster for the chip makers and for Lithium Batteries Bloomberg reports about 14-19% cost reduction every year.

  Now we are in the fast lane approaching this transition with first electric cars priced below $40k and with a range of over 200 miles coming to the market: GM Bolt and Tesla Model 3. BMW i3 with the new larger battery, Renault Zoe with 400 km range and Nissan Leaf with upgraded battery are driving the sales in Europe and China stands on its own with 25 companies making 51 models of electric cars. 

  Lithium Technology is here and the best electric cars will become only cheaper and better. Bloomberg estimates 2022 - 2026 when EVs will reach parity with ICE on capital cost alone. I will translate: depending on the country from 2022 electric cars will become cheaper to buy than comparable ICE ones. They will provide much better performance, safety and fraction of running cost to operate. This progress is inevitable and Tesla shows what is coming with Tesla Model S outselling ALL luxury sedan brands in the U.S. and Western Europe by a very wide margin. In the Q3 of this year, Tesla Model S sales were almost double of Mercedes S-Class and more than double of BMW 7!  

  And, finally, as Dr. Joe Romm is pointing out that governments start to wake up to the horrible cancer hazard air pollution on our streets from fuel-burning cars and voices for the ban of such cars are louder and louder.  We can already add Netherlands to his list of countries and I have put China there as well. Masters of the asymmetric warfare Chinese will definitely capitalize on the advance they have managed to gain with their New Energy Plan at the right time. China has the largest EVs market in the world, Warren Buffett-backed BYD is the largest manufacturer of electric cars, Chinese companies are the largest lithium chemicals producers for the lithium batteries already. Lithium Megafactories are rising with billions of dollars in investments and they are buying the best lithium projects to secure supply of this critical metal.
  If and when China will ban fuel-burning cars remains the speculation at this moment, but it will change the geopolitical landscape overnight making many Trillions of dollars in assets in the West worthless and some major companies literally shrinking in size within a year or two. We will have more Chinese names at the top of the World's largest companies for sure and size of the Chinese economy will jump reflecting the new growth based on the manufacturing base of the 21st century. This Energy rEVolution will be very fast and brutal to those unprepared. It is time to check your portfolios in order not to get caught in "The Death Spiral" - like Fitch is predicting for the oil companies. And whoever would like to start new trade wars should be thinking twice and long term in advance, like China is doing building secure lithium supply to power new Energy Plan and Electric rEVolution. With the diminishing role of Oil as the only source of Energy, will our world be able to have a peaceful transition to the new order? I will leave these worries to our brave politicians, you should think about your investments and on which side of the history you would like to be to make the difference. You can find my chronicles of this Energy rEVolution on this blog and below are some links for your own research including the Dr. Joe Romm article. Read more."

Elecktrek:

Tesla Powerwall 2 has no competition - comparison with LG Resu and SonnenBatterie

Lithium Race: Backed By Warren Buffett Chinese Automaker BYD Forecasts Up To 84% Profit Rise For 2016.

   

Reuters. BYD weld line in Shenzen, China.

  As Tony Seba has mentioned before: "Green Energy is green also because it is the colour of money."  Lithium Technology is out of the labs and is coming into the mass market phase with electric cars. Tesla in the US has just turned a profitable quarter and another set of record numbers.  BYD backed by Warren Buffett is the largest EV maker in the world, moving very fast into the energy storage business and will sell 100,000 EVs this year. For your reference: it took GM 7 years from 2009 to sell 100,000 Chevy Volts. And they are making money already and Reuters reports that BYD profit will rise 84% this year with all R&D and CAPEX allocated to Lithium Megafactories and numerous production facilities all over the world for electric cars, buses and trucks. This Electric rEVolution is the serious business now and the incredible growth of the new lithium majors like Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi are showing the rapidly changing business landscape in the 21st century. We can have 1,000,000 EVs sold only this year and we are on track to have 2,000,000 EVs on the roads by the year end. It is the lithium catalyst I am talking about: during all our history only just over 1,000,000 EVs were sold before.

 "If and when China will ban fuel-burning cars remains the speculation at this moment, but it will change the geopolitical landscape overnight making many Trillions of dollars in assets in the West worthless and some major companies literally shrinking in size within a year or two. We will have more Chinese names at the top of the World's largest companies for sure and size of the Chinese economy will jump reflecting the new growth based on the manufacturing base of the 21st century. This Energy rEVolution will be very fast and brutal to those unprepared. It is time to check your portfolios in order not to get caught in "The Death Spiral" - like Fitch is predicting for the oil companies. And whoever would like to start new trade wars should be thinking twice and long term in advance, like China is doing building secure lithium supply to power new Energy Plan and Electric rEVolution. Read more."

 

International Lithium and Ganfeng: Major Catalyst For Electric rEVolution And Security Of Lithium Supply.

  

  "We have discussed before the fast changing geopolitical landscape in the world and why New Energy Plan in China can change the balance in our world's economic system just in a few very short years. For more than 100 years oil was our only major source of energy powering the economic growth. Oil means power and power means oil - this sentence can determine the politics of all 20th century. But not anymore. We are just at the tipping point of the major tectonic shift from the centralized energy systems to the distributed electricity  generation and its consumption when we want it. Electricity is the most efficient form of energy known to us. Now, thanks to "The Learning Curve", we can produce it very cheap with solar and wind and we can store it very efficiently using lithium batteries. Cheap lithium batteries change everything here. We are in the catalyst stage of moving from 2 to 7000. 2 is the number of batteries in your farther's first remote control, 7000 is the number of lithium batteries in Tesla Model S. 

  Tesla is making the headlines demonstrating the potential of lithium technology. Elon Musk has proved that electric cars are just better. Here comes the China's New Energy Plan in the picture as the major driving force for The Switch with its state-level military style planning and execution - you can find more details about it in my previous posts. 

  Two major Chinese companies Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi are part of this state-level plan to build the Electric rEvolution from top to bottom, including the secure supply chain for the critical metal Lithium which is at the very heart of this technology. This year they have broken "The Old Lithium Big 3" and now we have "The New Lithium Top 5". Albemarle is in the first place and SQM is holding now to the second. Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi have pushed FMC into the 5th place and are chasing each other between 3rd and 4th. Ganfeng Lithium is a $4.5 Billion MC company and strategic partner of International Lithium. We were very fortunate after two years of due diligence to strike the major deal with Ganfeng for International Lithium in 2011. This business demands a long term planning and stamina just to stay with the game. This year, after 7 years of building our business, we are celebrating with Ganfeng the 5th anniversary International Lithium's IPO. Read more."

Lithium Race: Warren Buffett's BYD Delivered More Than 10,000 Plug-In Cars Again In September.

  "We are talking a lot about Tesla these days and groundbreaking achievements of lithium-based technology for electric cars - now they can drive themselves. I do understand Elon Musk's push for self-driving cars as a much safer option on the road than the majority of drivers, but the ability to produce millions of electric cars is even more important. The self-driving technology has a far-reaching legal and moral issues which our society will have to address in order to fully embrace it. A lot of vested interests will try to kill the whole idea of self-driving cars hitting on the electric ones. The latest report from Fitch on the "Death Spiral" for the Oil industry due to the fast improvements in lithium batteries for electric cars will open the new lines of attacks on "dirty electric cars."

  I do hope that Elon Musk can really do everything and deliver Tesla Model 3 next year. But we are not alone, tectonic shift in the geopolitical  situation is now driving "The Switch". China is fully charged with its New Energy Plan leaving in the dust firing the last cylinders of the corrupted lobbying institutions in the West. InsideEVs reports from the Center of Lithium Universe and the largest  market for electric cars. BYD backed by Warren Buffett has delivered again for the 4th month in a row more than 10,000 EVs sold. The company is on track to sell more than 100,000 EVs in one year! It will be the first one in the world to do so and, for the reference, Tesla will, hopefully, have 80,000 - 90,000 in sales this year. It took GM 7 year to sell 100,000 Chevy Volts from 2009!  We are getting to the exponential part of the S-curve for the adoption of EVs now. Read more."

Reuters:

Chinese automaker BYD forecasts up to 84 percent profit rise for 2016 

Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd (1211.HK) (002594.SZ), backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), on Sunday said 2016 full-year profit was likely to rise as much as 84.17 percent, as rapid growth of the green car market eases.

The Shenzhen-based manufacturer, which has invested heavily in making electric and hybrid petrol-electric vehicles, forecast a 77.09 percent to 84.17 percent increase in net profit for the year, at 5.0 billion yuan ($737.90 million) to 5.2 billion yuan.

For the first nine months of 2016, BYD reported 3.66 billion yuan in profit, an 86.82 percent increase year-on-year. That compared with the automaker's forecast in August of 83 percent to 91 percent for the period.

BYD reported triple-digit profit growth for the previous four quarters. But its earnings expansion in the first nine months of 2016 slipped below 100 percent as the overall market for green-energy vehicles moderates after government support helped it quadruple last year.

Overall sales of electric and plug-in hybrids in China totaled 289,000 vehicles in January-September, according to China's automakers association, far from its target of 700,000 vehicles for 2016. An association official said Friday that sales were now likely to miss that target.

Analysts said China may struggle to meet that target following the revelation that dozens of companies had been cheating the subsidy system.

(Reporting by Jake Spring and Elias Glenn, editing by Larry King)"

Energy rEVolution: Tesla Lithium Powerwall 2.0 And Stunning Solar Roofs Seamlessly Powering Houses And Electric Cars.

   It is all coming together finally according to the Master Plan 2.0 from Elon Musk. Stunning Solar Roofs powering houses and electric cars. Tesla Powerwall 2.0 is very impressive. It is priced at $5,500 and has twice as much energy storage than Powerwall 1 with 14 kWh of storage and 7 kW of peak power output. It is enough to power lights, sockets and a refrigerator of a 4 bedroom house for a full day, according to Tesla! With a Solar system on your roof, you can power with this Powerwall 2.0 such house "indefinitely." We have a real Energy rEVolution happening, now Solar can work 24/7. Thanks to "The Learning Curve" we will have the prices of lithium batteries going down with mass volume production. Elon Musk has unveiled the Powerpack 2 for utilities as well: now it is coming with already double the energy density compared to Powerpack 1 - 210 kWh and 50 kW peak power output. Solar roof from Tesla stands on its own, just watch the video!

Tesla Solar Roof.

  Next logical step for me, in order to really ignite the Energy rEVolution, is to bring the "Pay As You Go" financial solution to Tesla packages: you buy Tesla Solar, Lithium Battery and Electric Car and pay quarterly like your utility bills. It will make "The Switch" happening very fast. I will leave it to Elon Musk and we are busy to build the secure lithium supply for this coming tide of demand. Millions of houses powered by Solar and Millions of Electric Cars: Lithium Technology is here and Elon Musk is making it all possible.

Tesla Powerwall 2.

International Lithium and Ganfeng: Major Catalyst For Electric rEVolution And Security Of Lithium Supply.

  

  "We have discussed before the fast changing geopolitical landscape in the world and why New Energy Plan in China can change the balance in our world's economic system just in a few very short years. For more than 100 years oil was our only major source of energy powering the economic growth. Oil means power and power means oil - this sentence can determine the politics of all 20th century. But not anymore. We are just at the tipping point of the major tectonic shift from the centralized energy systems to the distributed electricity  generation and its consumption when we want it. Electricity is the most efficient form of energy known to us. Now, thanks to "The Learning Curve", we can produce it very cheap with solar and wind and we can store it very efficiently using lithium batteries. Cheap lithium batteries change everything here. We are in the catalyst stage of moving from 2 to 7000. 2 is the number of batteries in your farther's first remote control, 7000 is the number of lithium batteries in Tesla Model S. 

  Tesla is making the headlines demonstrating the potential of lithium technology. Elon Musk has proved that electric cars are just better. Here comes the China's New Energy Plan in the picture as the major driving force for The Switch with its state-level military style planning and execution - you can find more details about it in my previous posts. 

  Two major Chinese companies Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi are part of this state-level plan to build the Electric rEvolution from top to bottom, including the secure supply chain for the critical metal Lithium which is at the very heart of this technology. This year they have broken "The Old Lithium Big 3" and now we have "The New Lithium Top 5". Albemarle is in the first place and SQM is holding now to the second. Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi have pushed FMC into the 5th place and are chasing each other between 3rd and 4th. Ganfeng Lithium is a $4.5 Billion MC company and strategic partner of International Lithium. We were very fortunate after two years of due diligence to strike the major deal with Ganfeng for International Lithium in 2011. This business demands a long term planning and stamina just to stay with the game. This year, after 7 years of building our business, we are celebrating with Ganfeng the 5th anniversary International Lithium's IPO. Read more."

Record Investments In Lithium Battery Companies Are Driving Energy Storage Industry In China.

  

  We are talking a lot here about the Energy Storage as the next largest application of lithium technology after electric cars which makes Solar And Wind integration into the Smart Grids of the future possible.  In the future, this market will even overtake the EVs consuming more lithium batteries. 

  According to McKinsey, we have a totally new economics in place provided by the cheaper lithium batteries available for the Home Storage and Utility Storage Systems. Now we have the report from the ground in China by CNESA: The China Energy Storage Alliance - showing exactly what is happening in the country which is increasing its Energy Storage 10-fold in the next few years. 

  Energy Storage projects are growing in scale in China, new energy policies emphasise the strategy approved on the state level within 13th Five Year Plan. Power systems are granted more marketing opportunities for Energy Storage implementations. Chinese lithium battery makers are targeting foreign energy storage markets. BYD has just announced its systems available in the UK for the Home Storage. 

  And the most important is that the real money is flowing into Lithium Batteries R&D and  production facilities. New specialised Energy Storage companies are entering the market and we will have to learn new names here after studying how Warren Buffett's  BYD is leading the Lithium Race in China. 

  As you remember, Security of Lithium Supply is a very big part of this New Energy Plan in China and we can see latest moves consolidating the lithium industry and driving the new competition for the sources of lithium raw materials.

New Energy Plan: China Installs One Large Wind Turbine And One Football Pitch Of Solar Panels Every Hour. 

  

  

  "We all know that The Switch is happening, but we do not really appreciate how fast it is going now. ReNewEconomy provides us with the very impressive facts about the Renewable Energy boom in China. It is all a part of The New Energy Plan and I will provide some links to the fascinating progress China is making with Electric Cars. It is also a  part of this strategic initiative to built the new manufacturing base of the 21st century and leapfrog the ICE-age technology straight into the post carbon world. Lithium Technology allows us to store electricity and use it when we want it now. Cheap batteries change everything and make it all possible. Lithium is the magic metal at the very heart of this Energy rEVolution. Read more."

International Lithium At Wentworth 2016 Presentation.

Elon Musk's Master Plan In Action: Tesla Turns Profit, Musk Says No New Capital Needed For Model 3.

  Elon Musk's ability to bend the Universe (at least in his own close proximity) has been proven to be right again. His Team at Tesla has made a magic inspired by "that email" after all and Tesla has delivered another set of record numbers and profits literally bringing The Burn to all anxious short sellers. 

"The electric carmaker also signaled it has substantially reduced the costs for launching production of its high volume Model 3 sedan next year. Musk told analysts the company's current plan "does not require any capital raise for the Model 3 at all." Reuters.

  It is harder and harder to find the audience ready to listen to the "Dirty Electric Cars" stories which still has been put out there by DIEsel fumes brainwashed "independent journalists". It looks like only the government in the UK can seriously listen to the Exxon worries about "unsustainable future with Electric Cars." People know better. Once they had a test drive of  Tesla Model S - all ideas to buy any "Clean DIEsel" or even "Not So DirtyPetroll" are literally blown away from the head after the first acceleration.  Half a million of them are already waiting for Tesla Model 3, others are trying GM Bolt and other available electric cars. We are witnessing the tectonic shift to the new technology, the speed of "The Switch" will surprise so many well-educated people. This iPod moment for electric cars will be driven by the existing market and demand for the personal mobility with the new exciting technology providing the much better service to satisfy this existing demand at the cheaper price. 

Lithium Race To The End Of The ICE Age: Tesla Model S Is The Best-selling US Luxury Sedan, By A Wide Margin.

   

Engadget.

  "And this is the real worry for all automakers, we are talking about here.Engadget reports on the disruption of the luxury sector by Tesla Model S which is always on ludicrous mode. The real electric cars provide much better performance and consumer satisfaction, we just need to have them cheaper. And they are coming very fast now from all automakers in a fear to be left out on ICE. The most important message after so many years is that it is not our dreams anymore: the best electric cars are here and customers are voting for them with their wallets. Lithium technology is here and cheap lithium batteries change everything.

  Now you can better understand why any Lithium demand forecast will never be even close to the potential of this $4 Trillion disruption of the transportation industry. And after that add on the top the ongoing disruption of $8 Trillion Energy and Utility industries with Solar and Wind driving Energy Storage demand. I will provide the best conservative Lithium Demand and Supply estimation from Joe Lowry for your reference.  With electric cars coming out below $40k and 200 miles of a range we can start talking about all cars being electric very soon. Read more."

Lithium Race: Tesla Is Selling Twice As Many Electric Cars As It Was A Year Ago.

  

  "CNN reports that Tesla is selling twice as many electric cars as it was a year ago! The sales in Q3 are up 111%  to the record of 24,500 EVs compared with 11,603 sold last year in the same quarter. It looks like the famous now motivational email by Elon Musk is making its magic at Tesla as more than 5,000 Teslas reported to be in a transition already. Tesla is on track to sell 50,000 electric cars in the second half of 2016 and meet its target of 80,000 to 90,000 new Teslas cruising on the roads for the whole year.
  This new achievement by Elon Musk and his Team at Tesla will contribute nicely to my expected 1,000,000 of electric cars being sold in 2016. China will claim at least 500,000 EVS in sales in 2016 and Europe will be racing for the 2nd place against the U.S. with roughly 250,000 in sales each hopefully.  In another important news, Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla is on track to meet its very ambitious goal of 500,000 electric cars made annually by 2018.  Now a lot of people will have to change their estimations for lithium demand. China is acting already and driving the new round of consolidation in "The New Lithium Top 5" where security of lithium supply is a major concern now. Read more."

Lithium 2.0: "New Lithium Top 5" Consolidation And Security Of Supply: FT "China's Tianqi Moves On Chile's SQM."

  

  "FT reports that further round of competition for the security of lithium supply is driving the new wave of consolidation among our "New Lithium Top 5". With all political troubles in Chile Argentina is rising to the top lithium destination in the world now. Chinese Tianqi and Ganfeng were competing for the stake in SQM. Now we can see that Tianqi will pay 51% premium to get 2.6% for more than $200 million dollars in SQM. This move opens the doors to acquire more than 20% stake in SQM. I will be following on more details of this deal.

"Now you can better understand why the security for lithium supply becomes crucial for the industry leaders. Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi have made it to the "New Lithium Top 5" this year and even pushed FMC down in the 5th place, according to Joe Lowry. Tianqi controls with Albemarle Talison  Lithium - a source of lithium raw material from hard rock mining in Australia. Now with Tianqi front running for the 23% stake at SQM - a source of lithium raw material from brine in Chile, we will have a new round of competition for the security of lithium supply. Reflecting on its political problems in Chile SQM moves to Argentina in J/V with Lithium Americas and Albemarle has just announced plans for the lithium exploration in Argentina. 

  International Lithium is building the vertically integrated lithium business with $4.5 Billion market cap giant from China Ganfeng Lithium, which is financing J/V operations in Argentina and Ireland. Below you can find more links on the Lithium Battery and raw materials space to make your own conclusions." Read more.

Energy rEVolution: Finding Value In The Booming Lithium Sector.

   "International Lithium is getting noticed in the industry with our strategic partnership with Ganfeng Lithium from China. Ganfeng has made it into the "New Lithium Top 5" this year and now we have a new round of competition for the security of lithium supply with a further consolidation in the industry. Argentina becomes the top destination for the Lithium Supply development and our projects in Europe and Canada are moving fast forward now with our strategic partners.  We are drilling in Ireland after recent discoveries with Ganfeng and Pioneer Resources from Australia is advancing Mavis Lake and Raleigh Lake projects this year. ILC is one of the most active lithium exploration and development companies with CAD$17 million budgeted for the advance of our projects on the 3 continents. 

  Please read carefully my legal disclaimer and never invest without consulting with your qualified financial adviser. I cannot comment or provide any information on the other companies as International Lithium's qualified person as it is defined by NI 43-101 was not able to verify and confirm the provided information. You can find below more information on Ganfeng Lithium and ILC including for our followers from Germany. Read more."

Reuters:

Tesla turns profit, Musk says no new capital needed for Model 3

By Narottam Medhora and Alexandria Sage | SAN FRANCISCO

Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) reported its first quarterly net profit in more than three years on Wednesday, buoyed by nearly $139 million in sales of clean car credits, and Chief Executive Elon Musk said the company could turn a profit again in the fourth quarter.

The electric carmaker also signaled it has substantially reduced the costs for launching production of its high volume Model 3 sedan next year. Musk told analysts the company's current plan "does not require any capital raise for the Model 3 at all."

The tech billionaire said Tesla could still raise capital to "account for uncertainty ... and de-risk the business," however.

The third quarter profit and a leaner capital spending plan could help grease the wheels for Musk if he does seek to tap the markets for cash. Turning a profit, even for one quarter, should help counter skeptics who have questioned his ambitious plans for combining Tesla and solar panel maker SolarCity (SCTY.O) into a company offering roof-to-garage no-carbon energy systems. 

Musk has made promises to investors before related to the timing of product launches, production and profitability, only to walk them back..."

International Lithium Video Update On All Projects And Ganfeng Special.

Thank you, Michael, for this opportunity to tell our story. Visit Ceo Roadster for more details.

International Lithium and Ganfeng: Major Catalyst For Electric rEVolution And Security Of Lithium Supply.

  

  We have discussed before the fast changing geopolitical landscape in the world and why New Energy Plan in China can change the balance in our world's economic system just in a few very short years. For more than 100 years oil was our only major source of energy powering the economic growth. Oil means power and power means oil - this sentence can determine the politics of all 20th century. But not anymore. We are just at the tipping point of the major tectonic shift from the centralized energy systems to the distributed electricity  generation and its consumption when we want it. Electricity is the most efficient form of energy known to us. Now, thanks to "The Learning Curve", we can produce it very cheap with solar and wind and we can store it very efficiently using lithium batteries. Cheap lithium batteries change everything here. We are in the catalyst stage of moving from 2 to 7000. 2 is the number of batteries in your farther's first remote control, 7000 is the number of lithium batteries in Tesla Model S. 

  Tesla is making the headlines demonstrating the potential of lithium technology. Elon Musk has proved that electric cars are just better. Here comes the China's New Energy Plan in the picture as the major driving force for The Switch with its state-level military style planning and execution - you can find more details about it in my previous posts. 

  Two major Chinese companies Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi are part of this state-level plan to build the Electric rEvolution from top to bottom, including the secure supply chain for the critical metal Lithium which is at the very heart of this technology. This year they have broken "The Old Lithium Big 3" and now we have "The New Lithium Top 5". Albemarle is in the first place and SQM is holding now to the second. Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi have pushed FMC into the 5th place and are chasing each other between 3rd and 4th. Ganfeng Lithium is a $4.5 Billion MC company and strategic partner of International Lithium. We were very fortunate after two years of due diligence to strike the major deal with Ganfeng for International Lithium in 2011. This business demands a long term planning and stamina just to stay with the game. This year, after 7 years of building our business, we are celebrating with Ganfeng the 5th anniversary International Lithium's IPO.

Mr. Li Chairman of Ganfeng Lithium and Mr. Klip President of International Lithium Corp.

 Ganfeng holds 15% stake in ILC and finances our J/V projects in Ireland And Argentina. It is providing not only capital to advance the projects, but a technology to extract lithium at the right chemical specification for Ganfeng as an end user. A lot of people even in the mining industry jumping into the lithium story now forget that lithium extraction is a chemical process.
  "Ganfeng has a strong commitment to supply Lithium product to various industries worldwide,” stated in the recent article Ganfeng’s Director, Wang Xiaoshen, “so we clearly have a vested interest in these projects and have been very hands-on in the evaluation of ILC’s properties. Our company is the only one in the world that has commercial production capacities to extract Lithium from both brine and spodumene, and we continually implement cutting-edge technologies to our processes. I feel confident that this is a fit for our operations and the potential these projects hold."

   People listening to our story are often asking me: Why is Ganfeng growing so fast? Here in the West, we can see the only top of the iceberg - the center of Lithium Universe is already in China. We have the major catalyst and tipping point for Electric Cars to go mainstream - Tesla Model S is outselling by a wide margin all other luxury sedans in the US and Western Europe. Automakers are just terrified with coming Tesla Model 3 priced at $35k and with over 200 miles of range. But wait to hear what is happening in China: now 25 companies are making 51 models of EVs over there. BYD: the company backed by Warren Buffett - will sell 100,000 EVs this year. It took GM 7 years from 2009 to sell 100,000 of Chevy Volts. Tesla will sell 80,000-90,000 EVs this year. We can have 1,000,000 electric cars sold this year alone and we will definitely get 2,000,000 EVs on the road by the end of 2016. This is the catalyst - during all our history we sold just over 1,000,000 EVs and this year alone we can make this number!

 Now let's have a look at what is happening in Germany now. Thanks to the best advertisement campaign for electric cars  made by Volkswagen and Dieselgate, Bundesrat has decided to ban all fuel powered cars by 2030 following Netherlands and Norway who would like to do it from 2025. German lawmakers are calling now to implement this ban all over the EU.

  After DieselGate Volkswagen has introduced Electric ID and is talking about 20 models of electric cars by 2025; Audi will make 4 EVs; Mercedes has introduced Electric EQ brand and is talking about 10 EVs. BMW has patented full-electric BMW i5 and increased the range of BMW i3. In September BMW i3 was the best-selling EV in Germany with more than 7,000 sold.

  GM Bolt is coming now this Fall in the U.S. priced below $40k and with over 200 miles range. In Europe, it will be sold as Opel Ampera-e from the next year with 500km of range. Renault Zoe will get the new lithium battery for 400 km of range, Nissan Leaf is getting battery upgrade as well. 

  We are all reading the headlines about the breakthrough in Solar technology and record low costs for the new installations. Lithium Technology is making renewable energy work 24/7 with utility scale and home battery storage systems. 

  Energy storage is the topic for another conversation and I will only mention that it will consume even more lithium batteries than EVs in the future. All this demand is driving by not only Tesla Gigafactory but other Lithium Megafactories all over the world. In 2014 there were 30 GWh of lithium batteries produced all over the world. Now Tesla will produce 50 GWh by 2018 and 150 by 2022. Lithium Megafactories in China will produce 120 GWh by 2018-2020. Very serious names are involved now in this business with billions of dollars being invested: BYD, Foxconn, CATL, Boston Power, Panasonic, Samsung, A123, LG Chem among many others. In Europe, this momentum is gaining strength as well with BMZ, LG Chem, Mercedes, and Volkswagen talking about $11.2 billion dollars investment in its own Megafactory. All they will consume lithium. Goldman Sachs estimates that by 2025 we will see 3 times as high demand as we have now.

 Ganfeng and International Lithium are building the vertically integrated business  model to provide the secure supply of lithium. In the West, we will get the best electric cars for The Switch within next few years starting with GM Bolt and Tesla Model 3, but the real lithium game is happening now in China. China is already the largest market for lithium chemicals for the batteries. Ganfeng has a unique position with its Lithium Hydroxide production capacity: this particular product is used in Tesla lithium cells produced by Panasonic now. Ganfeng supplies both Panasonic and BYD among many other battery makers. Joe Lowry has just published his new article on the major lithium players featuring Ganfeng and you can get a better picture about the state of lithium market and place of our strategic partner in it. International Lithium is vertically integrated with Ganfeng as its exploration arm. 
  The same approach we are using with Pioneer Resources in Canada to build the secure supply of lithium for the North American market. Here our approach is to define Upper Canada Lithium Pool - multiple high-grade potential deposits with one central processing plant located right next to the auto manufacturing base in Northern America. 

  This year we have CAD$17 million budgeted for all our projects on 3 continents, which makes International Lithium one of the most active lithium development companies in the world. Very deep technical team and diversified portfolio of high-quality lithium assets have attracted to International Lithium major leaders in the lithium materials industry and they became our strategic partners. We have capital and technology in place which are necessary to develop our projects. 

  On the links below you can find more information about our company and Energy rEVolution. Please carefully read my legal disclaimer and never make any investment decisions without consulting you preferred qualified financial adviser. All latest information on International Lithium can be found on SEDAR, SEDI and website of our company.

Lithium Market Small But Complex. Canadian Junior And Chinese Partner Taking Long View.

“This brings the total amount budgeted for exploration to CAD$17 million across the Company’s projects in Canada, Argentina and Ireland, making International Lithium Corp. one of the most active exploration companies in the lithium sector.  This speaks volumes for the quality as well as the potential of the Company’s projects,” states Kirill Klip, President, International Lithium Corp.”

International Lithium At Wentworth 2016 Presentation.