Saft, the world's top designer and manufacturer of high-tech batteries will provide renewable energy storage for 2500 R Street, California's first micro-grid, distributed energy community housing project.
Just one week after a controversy regarding international espionage in the electric vehicle (EV) development arena, the announcement of a commercial partnership to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles has been very strongly received by the marketplace.
Bloomberg reports that Automakers are testing packs of lithium-ion batteries assembled by Silicon Valley startup Tesla Motors Inc. costing less than bigger, car-only batteries favored by General Motors Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu joined seven other U.S. government agencies in launching a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export Initiative. Lithium investors will be familiar with the mandate of the initiative to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency exports.
From Australia to Japan to the US, major partnerships and strategic collaborations appear to be catalyzing strong marketing and technological bench strength to drive activity within the lithium field.
With the potential of providing energy densities up to three times that of the conventional lithium ion batteries, lithium-air batteries are currently under research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and companies like IBM and General Motors.
Ford Motor Company and Portland General Electric announced a collaboration to help prepare the city of Portland share information on charging needs and requirements to ensure the electrical grid can support the necessary demand for electric vehicles. The recent collaborative follows a press release from the US Department of Energy for a $2.4 billion investment to further accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of electric vehicles, batteries, and components in the US.
SQM saw its share price climb over 6 percent on Tuesday after Potash Corp, said its board rejected an unsolicited $39 billion offer from miner BHP Billiton. Lithium investors will remain very interested in this development as BHP said it continues to review its options and will make a further announcement in due course.
China's principal lithium-producing province plans to boost output of the metal by a factor of five over the next five years, which is half the level of its previous target. This revised guidance for lithium production was followed by a subsequent announcement that China may invest more than $15 billion in electric vehicles during the next 10 years. Investors will be interested to observe how this development might impact the global supply and demand, or if this could potentially change the adoption rate of electric vehicles in specific markets.
As South Korea imports 97 percent of its energy and mineral resources, a strong move to secure a reliable lithium supply adds to the existing wave of Asian companies developing projects in the lithium rich salt lakes in the north of Argentina.
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