Powered By Lithium: Why Build a Gigafactory? The Numbers Behind Tesla’s Wild Plans TSLA ILC.v TNR.v LIT

Elon Musk: Tesla Lithium Gigafactory Will Make Batteries With 400 Miles Range For Tesla Model S TSLA ILC.v TNR.v

"Eon Musk confirms another very important outcome of his Tesla Gigafactory plan. It will not only  reduce the cost of existing batteries by 30% and allow Tesla Model E launch with 200 miles range and price tag of 35k, but also Tesla Model S and X can get the better quality Lithium Battery packs for up to 400 miles range. Once "affordable" Electric Car can go over 300 miles range the Electric Revolution will be happening for real. Will Elon Musk not only Occupy Mars, but save billions of lives in China and India on the way?"

  Tesla Gigafactory news is making its rounds and igniting the interest in the junior mining investment community from Lithium to Graphite plays and even to Cobalt investment ideas. Among a lot of wannabes will be a few solid stories you have to dig out. Not everybody will be able to develop even the very promising projects - you need Capital and Expertise first.  After that you will have to find the End Users among Lithium Materials Producers, like Ganfeng Lithium to integrate your supply. Elon Musk with Tesla Gigafactory sends the most important message now that Electric Cars are here to stay, volume will bring crucial improvement in Lithium Technology and will allow to reduce the cost of Batteries making the mass market for Electric Cars reality in a few years. Future is happening now.

  This move from Tesla Motors, followed now by Daimler and LG Chem, is stressing out one more time the importance of Vertically Integrated Lithium Batteries Supply Chain in the eyes of major automakers. We are following one such business in the making here with Ganfeng Lithium from China and International Lithium from Canada and will provide a few links for you to study it.

International Lithium: Ganfeng Lithium Is Halted Pending Major Acquisition ILC.v TNR.v LIT TSLA KNDI

"We are following International Lithium here with its strategic partner from China Ganfeng Lithium. Elon Musk with his Tesla Gigafactory has brought a lot of attention to the Lithium strategic commodity story and Asian companies are coming into the spotlight as well now. LG Chem is talking about building major Lithium battery plant in China and Lithium Materials Industry is getting the green light from the Chinese government in its efforts to curb the horrible pollution.

"Kirill Klip, president of International Lithium (TSXV:ILC), views the announcement of Tesla’s Gigafactory as a “groundbreaking development.”

Tesla “brought attention to what Elon Musk has accomplished,” Klip told Lithium Investing News. “He showed to everyone that electric cars are not toys anymore — they are for real.”

International Lithium's Strategic Partner, Ganfeng Lithium, Takes Large Stake in Mariana and a $10 million Option on the Blackstairs Projects ILC.v TNR.v LIT

  "Mar 19, 2014 (ACCESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Vancouver, B.C. / ACCESSWIRE / March - 2014 / International Lithium Corp. (the "Company" or "ILC") announces several major transactions with strategic partner GFL International Co., Ltd. ("Ganfeng Lithium" or "GFL")." 

WSJ:

Why Build a Gigafactory? The Numbers Behind Tesla’s Wild Plans

Elon Musk has a fondness for grand ambition, building rockets that land themselves and proposing warp-speed public transport systems. But while the Hyperloop raised eyebrows in a country that has lost its political taste for big public infrastructure projects, the $5 billion Tesla MotorsTSLA +5.78% “gigafactory” has people asking a different set of questions.

As the WSJ’s Mike Ramsey reports today, some of those questions revolve around the risks of building an enormous and very expensive battery factory on the assumption that one day you will need enough batteries to justify it. For Tesla, it represents a huge bet that the company will deliver on plans to become a mass-market car maker selling hundreds of thousands of mid-range vehicles, rather than a niche luxury product for the curious and wealthy.

If the company can’t make that jump, then it’s current $27 billion market cap — a valuation almost exactly half that of General Motors — will take a dive. And it can forget about the $60 billion valuation the most optimistic analysts have placed on it.

But if it delivers and succeeds in the mass market, it will need a lot of batteries. How many? Here’s the guesstimate, via today’s story:

Tesla, with sales of just over 22,400 cars last year, is already the largest buyer of lithium-ion battery cells in the world. With plans to sell 500,000 vehicles, its own demand would be greater than the demand for every laptop, mobile phone and tablet sold in the world.

So bring on the gigafactory? That depends on whether you think Tesla can make a popular car for the masses. See the full story here.

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