Electric bicycle sales volumes are driven by macroeconomic trends in developing markets combined with demand for convenient and low-cost transportation. These factors could lead to global sales of almost 48 million vehicles per year by 2018.
China has strong potential to advance progress on lithium battery chemistries as to date the country has demonstrated the largest dollar-value contribution towards research of this objective. If Chinese research generates a positive result, there will be global energy implications.
The goal of manufacturing an affordable five-passenger electric vehicle that meets the distance range requirements of average American consumers and has a fast-charging ability and payback time of less than five years is at the center of President Obama’s ambitious EV Everywhere program.
A German university is launching a research project to develop an aqueous lithium battery. This research could have global energy implications for lithium investors and industry stakeholders if it generates a positive result.
Research released from universities in the United States and China compared health impacts of lithium battery powered electric vehicles with conventional vehicles across 34 major urban centers in China. The lithium battery powered electric vehicle research was a collaborative effort from universities in Minnesota, Tennessee, and China evaluating the health impacts from the use of lithium battery powered electric vehicles compared with conventional vehicles.
The large manufacturing facility referred to as Liotech is expected to produce up to 500,000 lithium batteries per year. The the expectation is for the plant to produce lithium batteries to supply electric vehicles and larger bus batteries, in addition to a variety of energy storage applications, and emergency power supplies.
A commercial partnership between Daimler AG and BYD Company Limited expects to unveil a future electric vehicle concept during an autoshow in Beijing next April.
A report from PwC suggests that sovereign wealth funds have the potential to increase exposure to the lithium industry.
A report from Pike Research indicates China will be firmly positioned as the leading market for electric vehicles in the Asia Pacific region within the next 4 years. For lithium industry stakeholders and observers the bullish report suggests that the growing Chinese market will contribute to almost 50 percent of the territory’s aggregate sales.
In a recent global consumer survey, global consumer segmentation for electric vehicles indicates “potential first mover” or “willing to consider” interest to be over 85 percent in the emergent markets of Brazil, India and China.
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