Lithium and REE: Nissan, FedEx Seek Electric-Car Target of 200 Million TNR.v, CZX.v, WLC.v, LI.v, RM.v, SQM, FMC, ROC, CLQ.v, AVL.to, RES.v, QUC.v,

"To call it a bomb will be an understatement - couple of weeks ago UK papers run a story about behind the curtain negotiations to move out of US Dollar in pricing major commodities like Oil and Gas, story was denied by all parties involved...You need just to check Gold price and USD index where the truth is, if the same will happen to Oil reserves estimations and Peak Oil will be confirmed for majority of consumers panic will drive prices fast. Now all that effort of DOE to finance alternative energy and, particularly, transportation in the form of electric cars with lithium batteries gains a new meaning - Electric cars can be the only economic and fast deployable alternative to oil based fuels. Rising oil prices will make this transformation happening really fast and lithium and REE will be in a very high demand."

We have a very strong demand for lithium and REE according to these estimations, with 21kg of lithium carbonate (LC) per each BEV with 24 kWh battery like Nissan Leaf (Electric vans like above will have bigger batteries) we will need 4.2 mil t of LC only for U.S. market with current level of worldwide production 120000t and with BEV almost zero. It means that we need to more than double production level for every year for the next 35 years to produce enough lithium for batteries just to feed the U.S. electric cars fleet. We would like to remind you here that China became the biggest auto market this year and their ambitions in electric space match their reserves with over 2 trillion dollars now. With REE situation will be even more severe - starting from 2014 China will consume all produced REE for its own internal demand. Where all this lithium and REE will come from? Like in other commodities junior miners engaged now in exploration and development of Lithium and REE will become the source of reserves for current producers or will become producers themselves striking J/V with end users to finance their projects. You still have a good choice of lithium plays in recent consolidation phase, which is close to be over, be aware of boiler room scams on unregulated OTC markets, do your dd and go where the people are known and portfolio of properties reduce the exploration and development risk of one project.

Bloomberg Nissan, FedEx Seek Electric-Car Target of 200 Million

"By John Hughes
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Electric vehicles should provide three-fourths of U.S. driving needs by 2040, with oil imports effectively “reduced to zero,” executives from companies including Nissan Motor Co., PG&E Corp. and FedEx Corp. said.
To reach the goal the federal government would need to provide about $130 billion in direct spending and loan guarantees for installing batteries and retooling auto plants, according to a report today by the Electrification Coalition, a Washington-based organization led by transportation and energy industry executives.
“We are simply on an unsustainable path” with global oil consumption, FedEx Chief Executive Officer Fred Smith said at a forum sponsored by the group. Electricity is “truly the only viable solution.”
Federal aid to spur demand for more fuel-efficient autos has been luring companies including Nissan and General Motors Co. to push for all-electric vehicles. President Barack Obama seeks to have 1 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads within six years, compared with a few thousand being produced globally this year.
“Public-private collaboration is the key,” said Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. “Automakers have the technology.”
Ghosn has said he intends for Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan to become the global sales leader in the developing market for autos powered solely or in part by batteries that can be recharged at electrical outlets. He has forecast that electric cars will account for at least 10 percent of worldwide sales by 2020.
The coalition said in its report that the government should concentrate consumer incentives and infrastructure subsidies on as many as 33 cities by 2018. Targets leading up to the 2040 goal include 700,000 vehicles by 2013, 14 million by 2020 and 123 million by 2030, according to the report.
Among coalition members are executives from NRG Energy Inc., the second-largest power producer in Texas, Rockwood Holdings Inc., the world’s largest producer of lithium products, and AeroVironment, a maker of car-battery chargers.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Hughes in Washington at jhughes5@bloomberg.net;