Lithium Catalyst: Half Of All Cars Banned From Paris Roads Over Smog; Electric Cars Exempt ILC.v TNR.v LIT RM.v

  

  Green Car Reports about this sign of time and this trend will provide the further catalyst for Electric Cars mass market. Air pollution in the cities becomes very serious issue and now electric cars technology allows us to dramatically  change the way of urban mobility. 

  China and India simply can not move any further with urban mobility without implementing mass market for Electric Cars, now Europe is moving ahead in that direction as well. London was talking a lot about being the Capital of Europe for Electric Cars. Maybe now the healthy competition with Paris will put actions along with words. So far Frenchman is taking London over with his 3000 electric cars for hire.

Lithium Drive: UK Government commits to electric cars LIT, ILC.v, TNR.v, RM.v

 "Electric cars are taking the world with one car at a time. Tesla Model S has made them the reality and upcoming mass market electric car from Tesla Motors will make this revolution for real. BMW i3 will challenge the urban mobility status quo this year as well. UK is destined to be the leader in Electric cars with its relatively low average range driving statistics and system of Tesla's Superchargers can do the trick. Elon Musk is the official adviser of the UK government now and we can expect that things will start moving fast in the right direction. Today we have another positive step towards real energy independence and clean air in London.

  China is literally chocking with pollution and electric cars are the obvious solution for urban mobility over there. Lithium developers are out of market favour now, but wait when investors will connect the dots again. Ganfeng Lithium is already the market leader in China in the lithium strategic supply chain and  extending its raw material base with International Lithium strategic partnership. Today's news from UK are putting new perspective to International Lithium 10 million J/V development partnership in Ireland with Ganfeng Lithium."

Powered by Lithium: Is the Tesla Model S the Future of Electric Cars? TSLA, ILC.v, TNR.v, LIT

  

  Mass Media is very fast to point out any problem with electric cars and with Tesla Model S, particularly. Other people's success is very hard to digest for some people. Nothing grows to the sky and there could be different opinions about Tesla Motors valuations, stock can go up and down with Mr Market's changing perception of value. The most important thing now is not to miss the big picture here. 

  Elon Musk has demonstrated that Electric Cars can be like "Normal Cars", but only better. Customers are voting with their wallets and Mr Market was very impressed with this market disrupting technology so far. Every Tesla Model S sold is another testament to the progress and sign of available future for all of us. New Tesla Model Gen III mass market electric car from will bring this future much closer. 

  Urban mobility in places like China and India will be only possible with electric cars introduced on the mass market scale. Pollution is already the main factor determining government policies there. China has implemented the state level plan to secure strategic commodities like Lithium to make this electric revolution possible. There will always be setbacks down the road, but the smart money already are building positions in this mega trend.

Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. Exercises Option On International Lithium Corp.'s Blackstairs Lithium Project, Ireland ILC.v, TNR.v

"The Second Option states that Ganfeng Lithium can earn an additional 24% interest in the Blackstairs Project by incurring $10 million in expenditures on the Blackstairs Property or producing a positive feasibility study on the Property within ten years of the effective date. At the request of Ganfeng Lithium, the Company is preparing a budget proposal for the first two years of exploration on the Blackstairs Project, which will include regional scale reconnaissance work and detailed analysis of areas such as Moylisha and Aclare where historic mineralization is confirmed by Company drilling (NR_June25_2013)."

Powered by Lithium: Elon Musk: Electric Cars Majority Sold in 10 Years TSLA

"Elon Musk is very bold with his predictions and people should listen now. Every single new Tesla Model S is proving his point. Tesla Model S is driving the electric revolution now and Tesla Gen 3 Model for mass market will be the game changer for electric cars."

Global demand for lithium expected to rise significantly LIT, ILC.v, TNR.v, RM.v

"Euro Pacific Canada has produced the very interesting report Lithium Industry - A Strategic Energy Metal, we can expect now the push of Lithium Investment story into the market place on the back of Tesla Model S success in the market place. International Lithium is mentioned as well with its strategic partner from China Ganfeng Lithium in the report."

Scientific American: 

Is the Tesla Model S the Future of Electric Cars? [Slide Show]

The innovative car faces a host of challenges, including fires

By David Biello

Every hour, there are an average of 17 automobile fires somewhere in the U.S., according to government data. Mechanical failure in internal combustion engines cause the majority, and burning cars filled with gasoline result in more than 200 deaths per year. Yet far more attention is being paid to one all-electric Tesla Model S that caught fire on October 1 after metallic debris pierced a module in its battery pack. The driver of the car walked away. A video of the fire went viral online this week.

A lithium-ion battery fire is different from a gasoline fire, because lithium and water can be explosive in combination. Much as one should not fight a grease fire with water (but rather smother it), one should use alternative means, such as chemical sprays, to put out an electric car fire. Yet the firefighters on scene used water at first to attempt to douse the Model S flames, thereby intensifying them. Extinguishing the fire required cutting into the frame of the vehicle in order to reach the embedded battery pack and dousing the cells with flame-snuffing chemicals, according to thefirefighters' report.

The Tesla Model S remains a car that garnered the highest safety rating possible from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in testing earlier this year. And electric cars, thanks to government financial support, have doubled the total sales of all hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, in their first years of availability—more than 110,000 Chevy Volts, Nissan LEAFs and others have sold since their introduction in January 2011. Tesla Motors hopes to sell some 21,000 Model S EVs this year and the vehicle is already the best-selling electric car. It has captured more than 8 percent of the total luxury market in the first half of 2013, surpassing conventional luxury cars like the Audi A8, BMW 7-series and Mercedes S class. There are already 13,000 Teslas on the road in North America, and only one has ever caught fire in an accident.

View a slide show of the Model S and its manufacture.

While extolling the virtues of Tesla Motors at an event at Columbia University on August 26, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz joked about the riskiness of the government's now repaid $465-million loan to the electric carmaker, noting that the loan was made in the same month that General Motors declared bankruptcy. "It was a risk," he said. "Now Tesla is looking today like a great success…[although] it's a little bit pricy for some of the people in this room." The Model S starts at roughly $68,000 for a car with the smallest, 60 kilowatt-hour battery pack, which is rated for roughly 210 miles of range.

Even at that price it is the California pollution credits that Tesla sells to other automakers there that boosted the company into profitability for the first time in its decade long existence this year. And EVs overall are certainly not on track to meet goals such as 75 percent of U.S. vehicles being electric by 2040 or the Obama administration's one million electric cars on the road by 2015. "We are competing with a technology [internal combustion vehicles] that has been in the market and improving in the market for a century," says Jonna Hamilton, vice president of policy at the Electrification Coalition, an electric car industry group. The electric car may find itself only a niche product, rather than a replacement for conventional cars moved by internal combustion—even if EVs are safer overall.

Driving experience
The 400-horsepower electric engine perched above the rear wheel makes it dangerously easy to accelerate in the Model S, although a software governor currently imposes a top speed limit of 130 miles per hour. "You can zip around, but it's almost better for just a comfortable drive at the speed limit," one satisfied Tesla owner tells me at a mall-charging station while chatting on what Tesla marketing manager Ted Merendino calls "Tesla time.” He adds, "Our customers are our best sales people."

The Model S is a giant, upgradeable computer on wheels, a pioneer charting out new terrain as cars become more and more computerized. One of the key transformations Tesla has introduced is the ability to upgrade the battery pack and the software of the car, essentially delivering a new car experience in an old car frame. In addition, a 17-inch touch screen in the center console points to a future of computer–human interaction, although one that may allow for too many driver distractions ranging from radio to GPS route-plotting. The occasional crackle of wireless interference sounds like a clock-radio alarm picking up the radio waves from a cell phone and leads one to wonder what it would take to crash the Tesla Model S computer—and then the car. It's also easy to see how a Tesla could be turned into a driverless affair, and Musk says his company is working on the technology for a computer autodriver much like Google’s.

Regardless, computers—and EVs—need power. Some 59 miles of driving on the highway and twisting mountain lanes uses up 22 kilowatt-hours with an average energy of 377 watt-hours per mile, during a recent test drive. Plugging into a conventional Tesla slow-charger only adds back 10 miles of range in 20 minutes or so. Parked at the fully packed charge spot at a local mall where five Teslas vie for two cords, the car attracts comments from passersby as well as cellphone pics.

That's because the car is perceived as cool and "green," no matter what color the paint job. But how green can an electric car be? In a place like Paris or the Pacific Northwest, where much of the region’s electricity comes from nuclear or hydropower, respectively, the Model S or Roadster can tout itself as a near–zero-emission vehicle. In large swathes of the U.S., where more electricity comes from coal and natural gas than nuclear or renewables, that is a harder claim. And in China—where Tesla will be sold as Tuosule, thanks to a previous trademark on the name—the luxury car will be more polluting than an efficient conventional gasoline or even diesel car because the bulk of China's electricity comes from burning coal. And then there's all the potential pollution associated with manufacturing the car's lithium ion batteries.

But for day-to-day expenses, the electricity to charge a Tesla is cheap compared with the roughly $2,000 a year the average U.S. family spends on gasoline—a mile driven on electricity costs roughly 3 cents compared with 12 cents for gasoline, according toEnergy Information Administration data.

New directions
In order for Tesla Motors to survive and thrive it must make more cars, more profitably. "What continues to work for us in terms of exciting the public is getting butts in seats," says Tesla's Diarmuid O'Connell, vice president of business development, who notes that the company makes a 25 percent gross margin on each Roadster sold, excluding other revenue. "That has always been the goal with the Model S program, too."

Next up for Tesla is the Model X, described as a "crossover" by auto industry types but somewhere between a minivan and a sport-utility truck for the uninitiated. That follows the progression of Tesla's business plan from a car produced in small numbers at a sky-high price (the Roadster) to cars produced in middling volumes and at a luxury price (the Model S and Model X SUV in 2014) to a car produced in large numbers at a lower price (a sedan forthcoming in 2017 or so, which is aiming for a cost around $30,000). Tesla also sells the electric power train it developed for the Model S to Toyota and Mercedes, a business that brought in nearly $4 million this year.

One key component of any price reduction will be drops in the cost of batteries, where Tesla has an advantage because it uses the same lithium ion cells used in the vast array of consumer electronics, where such batteries have also faced fire troubles occasionally. "There are billions of research dollars pouring into the space and also the infrastructure to manufacture cells," O'Connell says. Already, between 2008 and 2012, the cost per kilowatt-hour of lithium ion batteries dropped by half to roughly $500. That said, delivering the hundreds of thousands of batteries Tesla would need if successful at making tens of thousands of cars and battery packs may prove a challenge.

Tesla's latest idea is to design a battery pack that is swappable in 90 seconds, a kind of rapid recharging in the form of replacement, including quick disconnects for the battery’s liquid-cooling radiator system. Or customers can use Tesla's 23 supercharger stations to regain at least 240 kilometers of range in 20 minutes.

The software upgrade potential built into Teslas may allow them to escape the fate of their eerily similar predecessor from 1948: Tucker. Only 51 of those innovative cars were made in Chicago before that company folded. As it stands, Tesla may make and sell more than 20,000 Model S units this year alone. "There's a reason why everything we do is so hard," explained George Blankenship, Tesla's vice president of sales and ownership experience, at an event to extol the new car in New York City in November 2012. "It's because everything we do is impossible."

The best part of the Tesla experience remains cruising silently past gas stations touting fuel at $4 per gallon. That's a feeling founder Elon Musk himself hopes to experience during a planned cross-country road trip with his family this fall in his personal Model S, where the billionaire's children like to sit in the rear-facing third-row seats. The downside is that returning from the electric future to the gasoline past inspires a lead foot that burns through gasoline even faster."

Lithium Catalyst: Electric Car Sales Have Doubled, Thanks To High Gas Prices

  

 Everybody is chasing the general markets these days. We can not agree more with Zero Hedge that everything start to remind the sweet times in 2008 just before the Collapse. We are still at lost how FED can allow tapering with the record number of population on the food stamps, but it is up to them.

  One of the new wonders, which supposed to bring us new riches is the oil shale game. And while we can not argue that some people or even states are making a good money, the rising Oil price is indicating that we are very close the Oil Tightening Cycle. So for the party to go on you need the fundamental shift, which is happening now with Tesla Models S in the headlines, but the more important is the quiet electric revolution happening on our streets now.

  We are revisiting the Lithium opportunities among the beaten into the dust junior miners now.

Will Tesla Model S Bring The Life Back To Lithium Miners?

"For us here the only question left is when. We are following Lithium story for years and have our own ups and downs with the sector. Tesla Model S has taken the question about the viability of electric cars out of the market equation now - they are here to stay. 

  Now the only time is required for general public to realise that shale oil is the dead end and find out why China and Japan are securing the Lithium supply now. Way Of The Future came out with the great article putting Lithium Big Picture together."

AOL Autos:

Electric Car Sales Have Doubled, Thanks To High Gas Prices

Monthly sales of the Nissan Leaf quadrupled in June compared to the previous year, according to data from Autodata Corp. (Photo courtesy Nissan).

Peter Bigelow

This is a good time to be in the business of selling electric vehicles.

Once moribund, sales of electric cars have more than doubled in the U.S. during the first six months of 2013 compared to the same time period in 2012. Americans have purchased 41,447 of plug-in electric vehicles since January. Thirty-six percent of all the electric cars on the road today have been bought in the previous six months.

The sales figures mark a bold turnaround. It was only February when President Obama backtracked from a stated goal of putting more than 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. While the recent sales surge won't revive those early hopes -- EV sales still represent only 1.23 percent of the total market -- they are a firm sign of encouragement.

"It highlights the fact you can't look at one month or two months of data," said Patrick Davis, director of the vehicle technology office at the Department of Energy.

"It's the nature of the vehicle market for growth to initially seem slow," he said. "As a matter of fact, through the years, when you look at the introduction of new technologies, whether it's front-wheel drive or airbags or whatever, it happens slow at first and then sort of takes off. Growth happens very quickly."

In some areas of the country, the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle is selling so well that dealerships are running out of inventory.

The automaker reported sales of 2,225 Leafs in June, more than quadruple the 535 sold in the same month one year ago. Through the first half of 2013, sales of the Leaf have jumped 214.6 percent.

The once-beleaguered Chevy Volt is selling even better. General Motors sold 2,698 Volts in June, an increase of 59.2 percent compared to the same month on year prior.

The growth is being driven by changes in both the automotive and consumer camps. Manufacturers have rolled out four new models of plug-in electric vehicles since last year, upping the total available to 13 models. Consumers are gaining a better understanding -– and appreciation -– of the way electric cars perform. And prices are declining. Nissan, for example, trimmed the Leaf's price by $6,000 earlier this year. Davis said the costs of the battery technology that powers these cars has declined by 50 percent over the past four years and expects a further drop.

While there have been well-documented concerns about the slow growth in electric vehicle sales, EVs have actually been adopted by consumers faster than hybrid cars were a decade ago.

In the first 30 months after the Toyota Prius debuted in 1999, cumulative hybrid sales were approximately 50,000 units, according to an analysis done by Argonne National Lab. In the first 30 months since plug-in electrics were released in December 2010, cumulative sales have been approximately 112,724.

Stubbornly high gas prices have also contributed to the increase. Although many oil industry experts predicted lower prices at the pump this summer, the national average remains $3.67 per gallon Monday, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report.

Earlier this year, the DOE unveiled the eGallon, a tool consumers can use to compare the cost of fueling a vehicle with electricity to the cost of fueling one with conventional gasoline. Rates vary by region because of the different prices utility companies charge, but the national average price for an e-gallon is $1.18.

"Consumers have a visceral connection to the price of gasoline," Davis said. "They are very sensitive and highly aware of it. Yet there was no similar metric that could help them appreciate the difference with an electric vehicle, and the eGallon does help consumers who are interested, because in the decision process they have that comparative tool."

Pete Bigelow is an associate editor at AOL Autos. He can be reached via email at peter.bigelow@teamaol.com and followed on Twitter @PeterCBigelow."

International Lithium Corp. Receives First Advance of Loan From Strategic Partner, Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. ILC.v

International Lithium Corp. Arranges Loan From Strategic Partner, Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. ILC.v, TNR.v

International Lithium Corp. Reports Drilling Underway At Blackstairs Lithium Project, Ireland ILC.v, TNR.v

International Lithium Corp. Reports High Grade Lithium from Mavis Lake, Ontario ILC.v, TNR.v

"Vancouver B.C. April 3, 2013: International Lithium Corp. ("ILC" or the "Company") (ILC: TSX-V) is pleased to announce lithium and associated rare metal assay results from the remaining eight drill holes of the recent 19 hole (2,075 metre) diamond drill program on the lithium and rare metals pegmatite field spanning the contiguous Fairservice and Mavis Lake claim blocks near Dryden, Ontario.

Key Highlights

1.34% Li2O over 8.50m intersected in MF-12-33

1.05% Li2O over 10.85m intersected in MF-12-34

1.06% Li2O over 10.75m intersected in MF-12-36"

International Lithium Presentation.

Jun 05, 2013

INTERNATIONAL LITHIUM CORP. RECEIVES FIRST ADVANCE OF LOAN FROM STRATEGIC PARTNER, GANFENG LITHIUM CO. LTD.

Vancouver B.C.  June 5, 2013: International Lithium Corp. ("ILC" or the "Company") (ILC: TSX-V) is pleased to announce that Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. ("Ganfeng Lithium") has advanced to ILC USD$1,199,000, being the first advance of a total USD$2,289,000 loan committed to ILC from Ganfeng Lithium, as previously announced by the Company on May 10, 2013.  The loan advance bears interest of 10 percent per annum, payable quarterly. 

In lieu of receiving repayment of the loan, Ganfeng Lithium may elect to convert into an interest in the Mariana Property.  The loan agreement contemplates that Ganfeng Lithium may convert what would otherwise be ILC's repayment obligation for the first loan advance into a 26% interest in ILC's rights in the Mariana Property.  Likewise, instead of receiving repayment of the second advance, Ganfeng Lithium may convert into a 25% interest in ILC's rights to the Mariana Property, for a total interest of 51%.  If Ganfeng Lithium elects to convert into a 51% property interest, at that time, the parties would enter into a joint venture relationship for the operation of the Mariana Property.

The Company has used the loan proceeds to make the underlying property payment to the vendors of the Mariana Property and related costs.

About  Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd.

Ganfeng Lithium based in Xinyu, Jiangxi Province, China, is a professional producer of lithium products which has developed a comprehensive product chain, including lithium metal and alloys, inorganic and organic lithium chemicals, supplies a wide range of lithium products for primary and secondary lithium battery market, pharmaceutical and new material industries. Ganfeng Lithium's principal market is in China with international exports to Europe, Japan, the USA and India. Ganfeng Lithium was founded in 2000 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in August 2010, notably as the first publicly listed Lithium Company in China and has experienced rapid continuous growth over the last 12 years.

About International Lithium Corp.

International Lithium Corp. is an exploration company with an outstanding portfolio of projects, strong management ownership, robust financial support and a strategic partner and keystone investor Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., a leading China based lithium product manufacturer. 

 The Company's primary focus is the Mariana lithium-potash brine project in Argentina within the renowned South American "Lithium Belt" that is the host to the vast majority of Global lithium resources, reserves and production. The 160 square kilometre Mariana project strategically encompasses an entire mineral rich evaporate basin that ranks as one of the more prospective salars or 'salt lakes" in the region.

Complementing the Company's lithium brine projects are rare metals pegmatite properties in Canada and Ireland that have recently reported positive geochemical results (latest news releases dated April 3,2013 and April 9, 2013). With the increasing demand for high tech rechargeable batteries used in vehicle propulsion technologies and portable electronics, lithium is paramount to tomorrow's "green-tech" economy. By positioning itself with solid development partners and acquiring high quality grass roots projects at an early stage of exploration, ILC aims to be the green tech resource explorer of choice for investors and build value for its shareholders.

John Harrop, PGeo, FGS, and Vice President, Exploration of the Company is a "Qualified Person" as defined under NI 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, 

KirillKlip 

President, International Lithium Corp.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, historical estimates should not be relied upon, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, are forward-looking statements. News release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

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