Elon Musk's dream to power the world with lithium batteries is getting into the reality by the day with every new Energy Storage System (ESS) installation being completed across the globe. ESS will be consuming more lithium batteries capacity than electric cars in time and will make Solar and Wind Power Generation not the alternative but the main sources of energy. Below are some links to make your own research.
Today Tesla Model 3 is going into production officially and it will be the most important product launch in all our electric cars history. We are entering the mass market stage for electric cars and ESS exponential growth is next.
International Energy Agency: In Order To Limit Temperature Increase Below 2ยบ C The Number Of Electric Cars Needs To Reach 600 Million By 2040.
"The cost of lithium batteries is going down very fast and I believe that fully electric cars will rule the world very soon. Tesla Model 3 with 65 kWh lithium battery provides over 200 miles of range and will become the standard in the industry with its mass volume production from this July. There is around 60 kg of LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) in one Tesla Model 3 battery. We will need 36 Million Tonnes of LCE to be produced by 2040 to put this IEA plan into life.
To put it into perspective, the total lithium production last year was around 200,000 T of LCE. Now you can better understand why there is the real cut throat competition for the security of lithium supply which is still hidden from the most of the people by the clouds of toxic cancer hazard fumes emitted by all DIEsel cars on our roads. ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) are on the way out, all cars will be electric very soon and we are facing the total disconnect between the coming demand for lithium and the available supply. Read more."
Tesla's Energy rEVolution: Elon Musk’s Grand Plan To Power The World With Batteries.
Elon Musk TED Talk: We Need 100 Gigafactories To Go 100% Renewable Energy And Tesla Will Announce 3 or 4 This Year.
Elon Musk was making his Ted talk recently in Vancouver and you can experience his ability to distort reality in our Lithium Universe first hand. Among very many mind-boggling ideas he reiterated that we will need 100 Tesla Gigafactories to move to 100% Renewable Energy for the whole world and Tesla will announce 3 or 4 new Gigafctories this year!
Gigafactory 1 has tripled its production goal to over 100 GWh per year and China has announced to add more than 120 GWh production capacity per year as well. Security of Lithium Supply becomes the major competitive advantage for all major players in this phase of Energy rEVolution which is going into the mass market exponential growth stage with electric cars and Energy Storage Systems. Read more.
Tesla Officials Visit Argentina’s Governor Of Salta For Solar And Storage Projects And Sourcing Lithium.
ElectTrek reports that "salt on the salad'": this is how Elon Musk has described lithium before - must be very important for Tesla's digestive system after all. I am writing here extensively about the coming control of the Lithium supply by Chinese companies who are very aggressively buying all the best lithium projects worldwide. It is very difficult to pretend anymore that any lithium will be coming from any signed by Tesla agreements with some junior miners in the nearest future. Lithium cathode is still produced by Panasonic for Tesla Gigafactory. Read more
Another part of this story is the rising price of lithium in China again. Last year we have seen only 14% rise in lithium supply and prices have increased by 74%. In December, Benchmark Minerals has reported that LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) was priced below $15k/T and Lithium Hydroxide (the particular lithium based chemical which is used in Tesla batteries) was around $18k/T. Last week I have received reports that in Shanghai LCE was priced at $18k/T and Lithium Hydroxide was at $22k/T. Today there are reports that LCE is already pushing $19k/T. It is all happening just before 4 major Lithium batteries Megafactories will be coming online in China this year and Tesla will move into the mass market stage with the production launch of Tesla Model 3 in July.
As you know, I have been preaching for years that security of lithium supply will be the most important factor determining the competitive advantage among different producers of critical raw materials for the Energy rEVolution. This Lithium Race will have the very far-reaching geopolitical implications. Now it looks like that Tesla is realizing that there is no secure supply of lithium for its massive expansion of operations from the underneath of Gigafactory floor in Nevada. Even if Panasonic is producing cathode for lithium cells which are made at Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada the supply chain is going all over the globe and back to China.
The real test to the market and supply chains for Energy rEVolution will come with the coming tide of Electric Cars and the following tsunami of Energy Storage. Bloomberg has recently reported that there will be more than 120 models of electric cars by 2020 and you should not be surprised as we have discussed here before that there are more than 70 models of electric cars on sale in China already. The next few years will determine who will have the keys to the new Energy rEVolution and control the supply chains. Hungry Dragons are flying high already and mostly in China, the question remains who and how will feed them without fear of being burnt in the process.
International Lithium And Ganfeng Mariana Lithium JV Exploration Target And Indicated Resource Of 1.25 M T of LCE.
Exploration target at Mariana Lithium, Argentina.
International Lithium NI 43-101 report.
Kirill Klip, Executive Chairman of ILC stated, "We are very pleased with the results of the maiden resource estimation at the Mariana lithium potash brine project, together with our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium. This project is now moving from an early exploration stage to an advanced exploration stage where it will be more easily compared to other lithium brine projects in Argentina. We are looking forward to follow up with Ganfeng Lithium on the recommendations of this report in order to ensure the rapid advancement of the project towards the pilot stage and to conduct further feasibility studies that will investigate the economic viability of the Mariana project."
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