Clean energy metals: the rise of lithium 

Clean energy metals: the rise of lithium

As commodities like gold and iron ore continue to endure a downward spiral, a window of opportunity is beginning to open for clean energy metals like lithium, cobalt and graphite. The following infographic reveals how the shift to clean energy will commence a lithium revolution.

The demand for electric cars and energy storage for renewable sources continues to rapidly increase, paving the way for a shift towards energy metals. The momentum has been building for some time, according to VisualCapitalist.

Political and social:

2014

• Obama reveals clean energy plan: The push will involve more than $1 billion in government funds to back new clean energy and energy efficiency projects along with funding research and development of new energy technologies.

• Who were the biggest investors in renewable energy in 2014?
China ($83.3 billion), USA ($38.3 billion), and Japan ($35.7 billion)

2015

• Volkswagen DieselGate scandal causes uproar, as it becomes clear that millions of the company’s vehicles have cheated emissions tests for years

• Elon Musk announces a mandate for Tesla Motors to acquire raw materials from the USA when possible.

• 4,000 people die, each day, of pollution related deaths in China alone.

• The United States deems lithium as a strategic metal and doesn’t give any statistics of its reserves or production.

Business:

2014

• Tesla reveals plans to build $5 Billion Gigafactory in the Southwestern US.

• Tesla announces Nevada as the site of its already-famous Gigafactory project.

2015

• The 1 millionth electric car is built in September 2015.

• Report surfaces that Apple plans to ship driverless cars by 2019.

• Google’s self-driving cars reach the milestone of 1 million miles driven autonomously.

• Tesla takes $800 million in orders for its new home batteries in just two weeks.

• A TSX-V traded company was the most recent recipient of an off take agreement to supply Tesla with Lithium Hydroxide.

• Volkswagen’s stock price gets crushed over 30% in the aftermath of DieselGate.

• FMC recently announced an “across the board 15% increase in price” in all finished lithium products. Lithium Hydroxide rose from $9,500 per ton, up to $10,870. Lithium Carbonate from $6,500 per ton up to $7,475 USD.

General Trends:

• Charging stations have increased rapidly around the world.

• Every major auto manufacture has more than one fully electric car. Some automakers mandate is to have an electric version of every model.

• The oil price has hit a 6.5 year low, yet electric vehicle sales have held momentum.

• Lithium battery manufacturing costs are dropping in price while lithium battery technology is getting better.

• New technology is decreasing the charge time for electric cars. Meanwhile, “miles per charge” is rising, and some cars can even recharge wirelessly.

• There’s a greater interest in looking after the environment with a continued scare of global warming.

• Wind and solar storage needed to regulate output of electricity back to the grid.

• China is a nation now giving priority to EV cars on their highways and parking lots.