Electric Vehicles : Not enough Lithium to supply the demand
(Source: http://www.focus.de/auto/elektroauto/e-gas-brennstoffzelle-flusszellen-batterie-so-schnell-koennten-benzin-und-diesel-ueberfluessig-sein-die-neuen-akku-technologien_id_7454357.html)
According to the latest German report on electric vehicles in the well-known FOCUS magazine, there is not enough Lithium to supply the coming demand in Lithium. The report predicts that alternatives such as gas powered engines will compliment the distribution of motorization types.
Is this another German anti-electrical-vehicle attempt? I say yes. They have been against EV's for years.
The whole issue of hydrogen-fuelcells is back on the table! Oh, what a lot of nonsense. I have been down that road 20 years ago. Do you also remember investing in Ballard Power? And then losing a large part of your money? Let's look at their development:
The world lithium reserves can be summarized as follows (t):
United States 38,000
Argentina 2,000,000
Australia 1,500,000
Brazil 48,000
Chile 7,500,000
China 3,200,000
Portugal 60,000
Zimbabwe 23,000
World total 14,000,000
(Source: http://evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1826)
But how much lithium does a battery actually need? Well, to my mind, it's more of a hype substance. You only need 80g of Lithium to be able to develop 1kWh of energy. A Tesla Model S P100D has a 100kWh battery pack, that makes 8kg of Lithium metal. With 1t of Lithium you can therefore power a little more than 100 cars that each have the torque of a Lamborghini.
World reserves therefore have the ability to power 1,400,000,000 cars, that's 1,4 billion cars. But, there are only 1,2 billion cars driving globally right now. I personally don't see where the problem is? Do you? We still have Silver-Oxide for the more expensive cars. And I am not selling my silver under USD 600,--/Oz.
(Source: http://www.teslarati.com/inside-look-tesla-p100d-battery-pack-teardown/)
(Source: http://www.teslarati.com/inside-look-tesla-p100d-battery-pack-teardown/)
Please comment your thoughts below. Do you believe the media? Do you think we have a Lithium shortage? I don't. There are many different battery types, and LiPo is not the only one. Besides that, not everybody needs a Lamborghini torque. At half the torque you still have an excellent vehicle, thus making 2,8billion cars available for the market with only 4kg of Lithium per car. To my mind there is no Lithium shortage. There is a Silver shortage.
I had same feeling about one of solar company in india and I was right because within one year market goes up 4 to 5 times. This is a good idea that you are investing in lithium mining companies not in electric car manufacturers because for popular manufacturers you will not get right price to buy because of media and pundits forecast about the sector.
No Vipin, I am buying Silver.
The last sentence says it all!
Silver is significantly up today. Looks like the silver shortage is starting to dawn on the market.
Max, are you from Ireland mate? Yes, Silver is up. Do you trade? Or stack? Or both? Thanks for visiting.
Yes, from the terrifying North :-) Do a little bit of stacking. No trading. What about you?
I stack, trade, and invest. Have been with the stockmarket since 32 years.
I too have been in the stockmarket 32 years. I started working in a stockbrokers in Belfast in the late 80s as a summer job and got hooked.
I too have been in the stockmarket about 32 years. I started working in a stockbrokers in Belfast as a summer job on my school holidays and got hooked.
That sounds excellent. Are you ahead? I am ahead, but I made many mistakes. Now at the age of 50, I am watching Warren Buffet's every move. Do you trade options too? Covered calls, etc.?
Not any more. I used to daytrade a bit about 10 years ago. With silver, I'm sitting pretty much on break even, with some good luck, perfectly picking the recent bottom to within a day and some bad, buying in early 2011
Thanks digger, very interesting. What if they start mass production of lithium batteries for storing solar energy for our homes, I think that will consume more lithium than cars would.
Silverbug, you can use the cars as those batteries, since not all cars are always driving, particularly not at night where solar is down. According to my reports, if all cars were battery operated, then we would, for instance in Germany, require 3x the electrical energy to charge them. That is just a huge problem in itself. And regenerative energies can then go and fart. That is the real problem we have, and it's not being addressed. You see, when those infrastructure projects are tackled, then there will be no such thing as unemployment anymore. However, at the same time, cars can act as that "power battery" that you are talking about. Silver is going to the moon! The future requirement for Silver is very demanding.
This is highly informative:
But if you use the car to run the house, how can you use the car the next day? Also people don't add the energy used to make all these electric cars and batteries into the equation when they calculate the cost to the environment . cheers
Silverbug, the batteries are needed to supply the electrical grid when the grid requires more capacity. This capacity can be taken out of car batteries while they are hooked up for charging. If your charging takes 10% longer because you are in the office or watching teli, you won't even notice.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/when-will-electric-vehicles-provide-grid-storage-51220/