Lithium Race In China: BYD EVs Sales Toped 80,000, Closing On Tesla With 120,000 Sold.

BYD Qin

  As you remember, I am expecting China to become the largest market for electric cars as well this year. We are talking a lot about Tesla, but should not miss the real story happening in China now. BYD has sold 80,000 electric cars (calculating sales of just two of its EVs), closing on Tesla with 120,000 EVs sold. Now 28 companies in China produce 21 models of Electric Cars. To secure the lithium supply is the state-level plan in China as the country builds the strategic industry of the New Energy based on Electric Cars, Energy Storage, Wind and Solar Power.

InsideEVs: "Earlier this month, BYD also crossed the 10,000 electric buses produced mark.  So things are definitely in motion for the Chinese company when it comes to EVs

"Cumulated sales of other popular plug-ins are:

• some 220,000 Nissan LEAFs

• about 120,000 Tesla Model S

• over 110,000 Chevrolet Volt (with Holden Volt, Opel/Vauxhall Ampera)

• over 100,000 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

• over 75,000 Toyota Prius PHV

Both the Renault ZOE and BMW i3 are approaching/or have just reached 50,000."

Lithium 2.0 Launch: Security Of Supply - Galaxy Resources To Buy General Mining In Lithium Takeover.

  "This chart of lithium price in China is keeping awake at night very many people now in our very small industry. Quite a lot of them have totally missed the launch of Lithium 2.0 and now security of supply is the major geopolitical issue. Tesla is still relying on Panasonic to supply lithium cells and a lot of people are relying on the "Lithium Found in Nevada" under Tesla's Gigafactory floor.

  Ganfeng Lithium: $4.5 billion giant from China is the strategic partner of International Lithium and now financing two of our J/V operations in Ireland and in Argentina. We are going where Lithium is and not just the hype around it. As we have discussed before, Lithium 2.0 is now for real as we have the real electric cars finally on the road and GM Bolt and Tesla Model 3 bring us mass market for electric cars.  Cheap lithium batteries change everything. Exponential growth in EVs sales is following by deployment of Energy Storage now.

  This Lithium M&A is pointing out another very important quality of Lithium 2.0 Launch: separation of dreams from the real people with the real projects, capital and technology to put them forward. There are only very limited number of quality lithium projects and even less capable teams with access to the capital and technology, like in the case of International Lithium and Ganfeng. Read more."

InsideEVs:

BYD Qin Sales Top 50,000, Tang Exceed 30,000

"At some point in April BYD reached a significant milestone – selling its 50,000th Qin plug-in hybrid (50,490 to be precise + a few hundred of a new all-electric version for the model itself).

As HybridCars.com aptly notes, it took just 29 months (or 2 years and 5 months) to cross the 50,000 mark – a pace on par with the Chevrolet Volt (with Holden Volt, Opel/Vauxhall Ampera).

“The Volt was launched Dec. 2010 in the U.S., sold its 50,000th in the U.S. 34 months later in Oct. 2013, and it’s estimated that globally its 50,000th came around the 29th or 30th month.”

The BYD Qin is equipped with a 13 kWh battery, good for up to 44 miles (about 70 km) according to Chinese manufacturer…of course, we’d just go ahead and pencil in something like 35 miles/56km of real world/EPA range (if it was indeed classed in the US).

A big selling feature of the Qin is the performance.  The plug-in BYD accelerates from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 5.9 seconds. Fuel consumption stands at 1.6 liters per 100 kilometer.

The other milestone achieved by BYD in April was 30,000 Tang plug-in hybrid SUVs deliveries.

Even more impressively, the 30,741 Tang were sold in just 11 months, and the car is of course only available in China.  This makes the Tang the fastest selling model of any kind to the 30,000 level.

Earlier this month, BYD also crossed the 10,000 electric buses produced mark.  So things are definitely in motion for the Chinese company when it comes to EVs

Cumulated sales of other popular plug-ins are:

• some 220,000 Nissan LEAFs
• about 120,000 Tesla Model S
• over 110,000 Chevrolet Volt (with Holden Volt, Opel/Vauxhall Ampera)
• over 100,000 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
• over 75,000 Toyota Prius PHV

Both the Renault ZOE and BMW i3 are approaching/or have just reached 50,000.

source: HybridCars.com"

EuObserver: Volkswagen DieselGate - Who Knew What When? Could It Has Been Prevented? What Is Next?

  EuObserver provides the great example of the true journalism and investigative reporting. On the links below you can find a lot of information which auto lobby is still hiding in the plain sight with the help of corrupted politicians. The ugly truth is that any amount of pollution is toxic and dangerous and all auto-makers can't comply with toxic cancer hazard emissions of diesel and petrol cars in the real driving conditions. The electrification of our transportation is the only way forward.  Now we have lithium technology, cheap lithium batteries change everything and the best electric cars are making it possible.

EuObserver: DieselGate Investigation.

Please Do Not Laugh: Daimler Investigates Mercedes Toxic Emissions After Volkswagen DieselGate Fallout.

  

  I do hope that Daimler will not be very tough on its own Mercedes Diesel production division. Maybe it will come as a surprise to you, but auto-makers are auditing themselves on the cancer hazard toxic emissions. And help from friendly corrupted politicians is on the way anyway, EU has ... doubled the toxic emissions standards in wake of Volkswagen DieselGate Scandal.

  But now it looks like people cannot be fooled and more. Tesla Model S outsells last year Audi 8, BMW 7 and Mercedes S already! Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and now Mercedes are making the best advertisement campaign for electric cars ever.Now Tesla Model 3 will bring end to all these dinosaurs running their cars on ICE age technology with controlled explosions of the fossil dinosaurs poop.  We have a tectonic shift of the billions of consumers of the existing product which is killing us all when we use it to the better, faster and cheaper one. Dump The Pump - Electric Cars are here.

Now It's Official:

The Guardian: Diesel cars' emissions far higher on road than in lab, tests show

DieselGate Volkswagen Fallout: European EVs Sales Up By 29% to 1.2% in Q1, Almost Double Of The U.S. Share.

InsideEVs: Nissan Leaf 2016.

  "As we have discussed before, Volkswagen has made the best advertisement for Electric Cars possible. Now we have just to make millions of the best electric cars very fast. FIAT has joined now DieselGate and the campaign promoting EVs following Mitsubishi, Opel, Suzuki and Mercedes. 

  The numbers reported by InsideEVs are very encouraging: EVs sales in Europe have increased 29% in Q1 to the 1.2% of the total sales. It is almost double of the U.S. EVs sales standing at 0.7% now and world-wide rate of 0.8% last year. To put this number in perspective Nissan Leaf picture is the best here: as much as I appreciate what Nissan have done for EVs market and early adopters - it is not the best car in its class which only happen to be electric like Tesla Model S. 

  We do not have affordable best electric cars in Europe yet. Tesla Model 3 will change it very fast. Another dragging affect on European EVs sales was from Germany as people we waiting for the new EVs incentives to be confirmed. Now there are approved from May and the largest auto-market in Europe is looking frantically for the best EVs to buy. Tesla Model S has already outsold Audi A8, BMW 7 and Mercedes S class in 2015. Now we have to make millions of the best affordable EVs like Tesla Model 3. Who will do it? Lithium technology is here. International Lithium is building the potential lithium supply with Ganfeng Lithium at our J/V in Ireland. Read more."

Ireland Lithium For Europe: ILC And Ganfeng - Germany Plans $1.4 Billion In Incentives For Electric Cars.

 This is really big news for us at International Lithium and Ganfeng - finally Germany is putting its act together. CNBC is on all morning on Volkswagen - New York Times reported that there was a Power Point Presentation in 2006 how to cheat on emissions. It is only the beginning of AutoGate - all autos cannot comply with any limits in the real driving conditions. Now Mercedes is under investigation, FIAT, PSA Peugeot, Mitsubishi was rigging fuel consumption data from ... 1991! What does it mean? It means that when you account all costs properly Electric Cars are already cheaper than ICE age once with much better performance. The problem is that we do not have enough good ones.  People are buying all they can get from Tesla Motors. Tesla Model S has already outsold in Europe Audi 8, BMW 7 and Mercedes S in 2015!

  This is the real news without hype: people will buy more EVs now. Germany is igniting the EV boom in Europe's largest auto-market. India, Norway, Netherlands and Austria are all considering banning any new ICE cars to be sold in 2020s! Now the question is how to build millions of electric cars and fast. Daimler, LG Chem and A123 are building lithium batteries factories in Europe now. Tesla is talking to Germany and France on the next Tesla Gigafactory 2 location in Europe. From the last year I am calling for Elon Musk to come to Ireland where we are developing Avalonia J/V with Ganfeng Lithium. In my very personal opinion Ganfeng should be building its own lithium production plant in Ireland right at the doorstep of Europe. After Apple's melt down on the slowing sales of iPhones there are a lot of calls for it to buy into the Next Big Thing and buy Tesla. The automakers that can strike a strategic alliance with Tesla Motors and buy Tesla Model 3 lithium technology and power-trains will make millions of electric cars and take the market over. Will it be China again with its military plan to dominate the post carbon economy after this Next Industrial rEVolution in Energy? Read more."

          

International Lithium And Ganfeng Lithium Commence Drilling At The Avalonia Lithium Project, Ireland.

  Volkswagen has made the best advertisement campaign for electric cars and Elon Musk with 325,000 orders for Tesla Model 3 in one week has shown that people are ready to buy best electric cars. Now we have a very good problem: how to make millions of EVs for all of us and fast. While Elon Musk is negotiating the best next location for Tesla Motors Factory and Gigafactory 2 in Europe, LG Chem, Daimler and A123 are all building lithium batteries facilities in EU already. Ganfeng Lithium has avery strong presence in Europe and now we are knocking on the doors to the one of the largest auto-markets in the world and building together Vertically Integrated Lithium Business to feed the Energy rEVolution. At international Lithium we have started early and acquired Avalonia lithium project in 2009. Now after years of due diligence by Ganfeng Lithium and millions of dollars in investments into the project we are drilling the defined targets to make the next step towards the economic assessment of the deposits on our property. Our J/V is fully financed by giant from China Ganfeng Lithium. Now International Lithium has active ongoing developments on all three continents: with Ganfeng Lithium from China in Ireland and Argentinaand with Pioneer Resources from Australia in Canada.

"Mr. Kirill Klip, President, International Lithium Corp. comments, “The Avalonia project joint venture, fully funded by strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., (“GFL”), could be of strategic importance to the European Union should a sufficient resource be identified. Clean fuel technologies for motor vehicles are becoming increasingly important to the European Economic Community to tackle climate change and the air pollution crisis in major urban areas. Lithium technology will play a major role when it comes to providing batteries for communication devices, electric vehicles and utility storage systems. Renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power will also benefit from lithium battery technologies and become more commonplace as the problem of intermittency will be addressed providing steady power from these sources 24/7.” Read more.

Volkswagen DieselGate Fallout: Tesla Model S Outsold Mercedes-Benz S Class In Europe In 2015!

InsideEVs.

  Thanks to the best advertisement campaign for electric cars organised by Volkswagen and corrupt EU politicians, we have another groundbreaking event reported by InsideEVs. Last year Tesla Model S outsold Audi 8, BMW 7 and Mercedes S Class! People with the money are going electric. Even more will do so once good electric cars are available in Europe. Tesla Model 3 will make the trick 325,000 reservations in one week time with reported today! Who will be first to secure the strategic alliance with Elon Musk, stop messing around with ICE and buy from Tesla Model 3 power-trains to bring electric cars to the millions fast? Read more.

InsideEVs.

Lithium Race: Elon Musk Builds Tesla Model 3 Production Team And Hires New Battery Chief.

  We have the latest news on everything Tesla with Canadian spin. Tesla is building its new production team for Tesla Model 3.  Elon Musk is moving fast to his goal of 1,000,000 EVs produced by 2020 annually. Tesla has hired manufacturing expert from Audi, raised $1.5 billion in new equity and lithium battery wizard will be joining its team this month. The world is getting ready to the new phase of the mass market for electric cars and Lithium Miners are consolidating around the best lithium projects in the industry.

Lithium 2.0 Launch: Security Of Supply - Galaxy Resources To Buy General Mining In Lithium Takeover.

  "This chart of lithium price in China is keeping awake at night very many people now in our very small industry. Quite a lot of them have totally missed the launch of Lithium 2.0 and now security of supply is the major geopolitical issue. Tesla is still relying on Panasonic to supply lithium cells and a lot of people are relying on the "Lithium Found in Nevada" under Tesla's Gigafactory floor.

  Ganfeng Lithium: $4.5 billion giant from China is the strategic partner of International Lithium and now financing two of our J/V operations in Ireland and in Argentina. We are going where Lithium is and not just the hype around it. As we have discussed before, Lithium 2.0 is now for real as we have the real electric cars finally on the road and GM Bolt and Tesla Model 3 bring us mass market for electric cars.  Cheap lithium batteries change everything. Exponential growth in EVs sales is following by deployment of Energy Storage now.

  This Lithium M&A is pointing out another very important quality of Lithium 2.0 Launch: separation of dreams from the real people with the real projects, capital and technology to put them forward. There are only very limited number of quality lithium projects and even less capable teams with access to the capital and technology, like in the case of International Lithium and Ganfeng.

  Galaxy is back from after the death experience and moves into the "New Lithium Top Six" taking over the "Old Lithium Big Three". Albemarly, SQM and FMC are being chased by very aggressive Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi from China. Now we can add Galaxy to this very small space for investors to play around with security of lithium supply for the future when all cars will be electric. That chart of lithium price shows what is happening when in the last 5 years out of 80k T of LCE expected new production annually only 18k T was put on-line and when Gigafactory and Megafactories are only coming on. 

  Now is time to check out the Gigafactories Game of Lithium Demand: 

Before we were talking about: 

1. Tesla Gigafactory 1 with 35 GWh and cost $5bn in Nevada, US.

2. LG Chem with 7 GWh and cost $0.5bn in China.

3. FOXCONN with 15 GWh and cost  $0.81bn in China.

4. BYD with 20 GWh in China - Warrenn  Buffett owns a stake in BYD, leader of EV sales in China.

5. Boston Power 10 Gwh in China - Ganfeng Lithium ILC partner owned 10% of Boston Power.

Total: 87 GWh - point of reference: total world lithium batteries production in 2013 was 35 GWh.

Now we have to add here:

- 17 lithium battery start ups in China, totally unquantifiable number and I will leave it out as speculative. 

6. BYD plants in Brazil and Argentina.

7. Panasonic in China.

8. LG Chem in Europe.

9. Mercedes in Europe.

10. A123 in Europe.

11. BMZ with 30 GWh planed capacity in Germany, Europe.

12. Volkswagen with $11.2 cost planed in Germany, Europe.

Total: more than 117 GWh of new lithium batteries capacity. 

  Now you can appreciate that my scenario of lithium demand doubling within next 5 years as the conservative one. Only Tesla with its plan of 1 million EVs produced by 2020 will consume at least 60 GWh of lithium batteries capacity assuming the average of 60 KWH batteries per EV. Knowing the Elon Musk's maniacal insistence on producing the most of all components in-house, we can add Gigafactory 2 in Europe as well to the list above.

  Where all this lithium will come from? This is the very good question to ask the best experts at coming Benchmark Minerals Intelligence Lithium Batteries Supply Tour 2016, which will start in London on June 6th at UBS. I will give you a teaser and few links on this blog to dig out your own conclusion.  Albemarle is the top lithium producer now. SQM is struggling with political issues, FMC is struggling with lithium production and both are producing Lithium for less than 20% of revenue. It means that even if you can technically produce more, you have to sell 80% more of other products as fertilisers as well. Ganfeng and Tianqi are taking the market by the storm and both are in fierce competition. Now Tianqi controls Talison with Abemarle (Abemarle has acquired Rockwood Lithium) and Ganfeng is buying lithium spodumene from Talison and lithium brine concentrate from SQM. It is not very well constructed base for the exponential growth and at AGM on 21st of September 2015 Ganfeng Lithium has officially informed its shareholders: "its major risk is the security of lithium supply." Ganfeng has invested in Neometals and approved budgets for International Lithium J/V projects in Ireland and Argentina. Ganfeng owns 15% stake in International Lithium. The presentations below will provide you with more initial information for your due diligence.  Read more."

International Lithium At Wentworth 2016 Presentation.

CEO-Roaster With International Lithium Corp.: Building A Green Energy Metals Royalty Company.

  It took International Lithium 7 years of building its Lithium business and 5 years of partnership with Ganfeng Lithium: $4.5 billion market cap giant from China - to receive this acknowledgement to celebrate our 5th IPO anniversary: Watch the video."

"Ganfeng has a strong commitment to supply Lithium product to various industries worldwide,” stated 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."

Race For Renewable Energy Technologies Charges Lithium Market. Chinese Lithium Leader Secures Supply Sources.

  Here is the link to answer all your questions why Lithium will power us for the next 50 years and after that Robots:

Lithium-Air Battery Breakthrough Will Make Diesel And Petrol Cars Obsolete.

International Lithium And Ganfeng Lithium Commence Drilling At The Avalonia Lithium Project, Ireland.

International Lithium And Ganfeng Lithium Begin Drill Program At The Mariana Lithium Brine Project In Salta, Argentina.

International Lithium And Pioneer Resources Plan Drilling For The Mavis Lithium Joint Venture Project, Ontario, Canada.

Lithium Race Moves Into Ludicrous Mode: Elon Musk - Tesla Will Build 1 Million Electric Cars A Year By 2020.

Please carefully read my legal disclaimer, nothing on this blog represents investment and/or tax advice. Please always consult your qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions. 

Lithium Race To Mass Market For EVs: Apple Bets The House On Electric, Shared And Autonomous Vehicles.

  ReNewEconomy reports on the Morgan Stanley analysis about the launch of Apple Electric Car. I personally think that Apple is losing time and money now, Tim Cook should just buy Tesla and put Elon Musk in charge of The Energy rEVolution at Apple. Than they will have everything to bring millions of the best electric cars very fast: Technology, Brand Power and very low manufacturing base with Foxconn, which is building already its own Megafactory and mysterious $15k electric cars to be produced in China at its almost $1 Billion facility. The problem is that Elon Musk will hardly sell Tesla and another opportunity can be the strategic alliance with Apple investing in 3-5 Lithium Batteries Gigafactories all around the world and buying Tesla Model 3 power-trains. Than we will have our magic cost for lithium battery at $100 per kWh and my formula 20/200 for the mass market of electric cars will be a reality by 2020.

   International Lithium continues to build vertically integrated lithium business with $4.5 Billion MC giant from China Ganfeng Lithium and now we have 3 Lithium projects in our Upper Canada Pool to secure lithium supply for the West and North American market.

Trillion Market Cap Dreams For Apple: Buy Tesla And Put Elon Musk In Charge Of Energy rEVolution.

  

  "Trillion market cap dreams for Apple are fading with its slump in sales of iPhones. China is taking over this sector as well ... as lithium market already, lithium batteries next and electric cars this year. Tim Cook is great COO, but Steve Jobs is gone ... Apple watch will not count even close to the Next Big Thing. Energy sector will do. Elon Musk and Warren Buffet are taking on 12 Trillion Energy and Transportation industries disrupting it with Solar Energy and Electric Cars. Tesla and BYD are becoming synonymous for EVs in the West and in China.   

  Apple still has a chance to buy Tesla and put Elon Musk in charge. He has the vibe, the technology and the lithium drive. Apple has Capital and huge iconic brand following and distribution chain. Foxconn with its own Lithium Batteries Megafactory will come as a very nice addition to the Tesla's Gigafactory and low cost manufacturing base in China. Foxconn's last year $800 million investment in electric car factory in China will bring it all together very fast. Next step is Lithium Solid State batteries with cost per kWh dropping to $100. Than we can talk about Tesla Model 3 60 kWh battery cost of  ... only $6k! We are getting to my magic formula for the EVs mass market 20/200, when $20k buys you BMW 2 type electric car with 200 miles range. In this case we can talk about real Energy rEVolution with million of the best electric cars coming on-line very fast. And do not you worry - International Lithium is building the lithium supply chain for this Energy rEVolution already.  Read more."

Tesla Model 3: Apple, Google Or Facebook? Who Will Buy Tesla Motors Now To Make Electric Cars For All Of Us?

   

Update from Elon Musk, this is super positively insane!

Elon Musk ‏@elonmusk  34m34 minutes ago

Model 3 orders at 180,000 in 24 hours. Selling price w avg option mix prob $42k, so ~$7.5B in a day. Future of electric cars looking bright!

  Reservations for Tesla Model 3 have already passed 150,000, what does it mean? It means that people are ready to buy the good electric cars and Tesla is making the best of them. Who will buy Tesla Motors now to make electric cars for all of us?  This opportunity will be paying handsomely back to the shareholders whoever will be able to make this move, we are talking about the first Trillion Market Cap company here. Will it be Apple, Google or Facebook? And do not you worry International Lithium will find enough Lithium for all of us!

Race For Renewable Energy Technologies Charges Lithium Market. Chinese Lithium Leader Secures Supply Sources.

ReNewEconomy:

Apple Bets The House On Electric, Shared And Autonomous Vehicles.

By Giles Parkinson on 30 May 2016 

Have you come across the term “share mobility” yet? If you haven’t already, you are about to. It refers to the new concept of electric, autonomous and shared vehicles – and it will be huge” So huge in fact that some analysts put the value of the market at $US2.6 trillion, by 2030.

The concept of electric, autonomous and shared vehicles is likely to have a major impact on the global transport industry – cars and the massive fuel industry – and in the way we run our lives. There may be no more individual ownership of vehicles, humans might even be banned from driving. And it is also presenting either massive headaches, or massive opportunities for the big corporates, and there are signs that they are investing heavily.

This graph from a Morgan Stanley report on software giant Apple is a case in point. It shows that Apple has spent more on R&D into car and related services in the past few years than it did on the Apple Watch, iPad and iPhone combined. And it still doesn’t have any products to show for its efforts.

Even more astonishingly, Apple is outspending the major car manufacturers at a rate of 20:1. The near $US5 billion it has spent in the last three years compares to the average spend of $US192 million at the top 14 auto makers. It even outranks Tesla by a factor of more than 10:1.

So what market is it addressing?

According to Morgan Stanley, it is a $2.6 trillion market that will emerge by 2030. It bases that calculation on  26 per cent of the 20 trillion miles driven in 2030 are through “shared vehicles” and that this will be worth around US50c/mile.

To give that market size some context, this compares to the roughly $800 billion market Apple addresses with its iPhone, iPad and associated products today.

Morgan Stanley notes that “shared mobility” is the intersection of three disruptive forces – electric, autonomous, and shared vehicles, the need for improved “digital experience in vehicles, and faster technology cycles, which now average 1-2 years, at most, compared to auto design cycles of 5-7 years.

“With Apple outspending the major auto (manufacturers) on this opportunity, we believe Apple could gain at least 16 per cent of the shared mobility market, similar to the company’s share in smartphones today,” Morgan Stanley writes.

“This translates to over $400 billion of revenue and $16 earnings per share for Apple in 2030 – more than the rest of Apple generates today ($234 billion/$9.22 EPS in FY15). Which may explain why Apple is betting the house on new car technology."