2018 year in review and 2019 outlook: e-mobility, clean energy technologies and lithium batteries

2018 is another defining year for the lithium supply chain, as the global population continues to make significant progress in implementing clean energy and transport.
While the clean energy and transport industry is still in its early stages, it is clear that the shift that has begun is an irreversible trend and has begun to disrupt many established industries.
Many of the headlines in the field of clean technology have been developed around the electrified passenger car market.
This is a very important and urgent opportunity for the lithium supply chain.
However, I think there are a large number of applications, including mobile and still applications that will benefit from lower hardware costs and new software platforms.
Governments around the world have also taken firm action to accelerate the implementation of these new technologies.
Due to the reduction of hardware costs, the emergence of innovative software platforms and the need to increase the generation of renewable energy, the growth of lithium battery usage will not be limited to e-commercemobility.
The need to introduce clean energy technologies into the urban environment has also stimulated demand for lithium batteries and related technologies. High-
Urban and commercial environmental densities that require clean energy and transport solutions most urgently, but are often the most difficult environments to deploy these technologies.
A long list of headlines in 2018 proved that lithium batteries-
Product-based positioning is to replace traditional technologies such
Acid, and open up new markets in the energy industry, such as virtual power plants (VPP).
Other breakthroughs in lithium batteries-
Basic technologies that benefit from reduced battery costs include: solar independence (off-grid)
Charging station for residential electric vehicles-and utility-
Expand fixed energy storage systems, micro-grids and commercial energy systems for remote and underdeveloped areas of the world to support the integration of electric vehicle trucks and bus fleets. Electrovaya (OTC: OTCQX: EFLVF)
Lithium battery for material handling vehicles-
Of course, this is just a sample of projects or products related to the transition to e-commerce
Mobile and cleaning technology.
For example, materials-
The market for handling vehicles sold 1.
1 million vehicles (20-40KWh/unit)
In 2017, the penetration rate of lithium batteries was almost zero.
The same is true of 180,000 garbage trucks operating in North America today;
The same is true of the global ferry fleet.
While these applications don\'t seem to be very common, in general they are a huge opportunity for the lithium supply chain.
Think about all kinds of boats
The construction company has announced new power options, each equipped with 500KWh to 5MWh-each with an amazing battery!
Despite the large number of promotional activities around vanadium, the vanadium battery hype in 2018
Based on mobile battery technology in 2018, the industry has invested very little in the technology, and companies with little quality or bank support are committed to developing products.
Obviously, lithium.
Battery-based batteries have won commercial competition and will remain in the lead for at least the next decade.
Second flood
Living batteries will begin to enter the open market in the next 5 years, indicating that alternative battery technology may not exceed development projects.
Investors in the lithium stock market adjustment industry\'s lithium exploration and production sector are panicking about not realizing oversupply.
In fact, worries about oversupply push stock prices to low enough that they actually block new production.
Primary exploration companies need strong price and investment interest in order to attract new capital to complete the work plan and bring their projects closer to production.
Many lithium primary exploration companies were able to reach nearly $100 million in market capital without completing any major projects.
Retail investors quickly accepted the concept that they had successfully identified the next square meter (SQM)
Leading to the continuous emergence of related projects on all continents.
To some extent, the rupture of the lithium bubble (
What I\'m talking about is lithium foam 2. 0)
Very much needed.
Good quality projects and businesses such as Nemaska (OTC: OTCQX: NMKEF)
Success in attracting capital and moving forward.
Despite growing demand for electric cars and a variety of other lithium --
Based on the product, and the battery manufacturing expansion plant announced by the first-class battery and battery manufacturer, high value
Exploration and production of high-quality lithium continued to decline.
While I do expect news of the new battery plant construction activity to escalate in 2019, it is not clear if the investor\'s interest will be back on lithium exploration and chemical producers.
If interest no longer appears, it may be difficult for juniors to attract the necessary capital, thus creating a path of integration or acquisition.
Bring New lithium chemical supply challenges to the marketBased on Orocobre (OTC: OTCPK: OROCF)
Located in the northwest corner of Argentina, the company has demonstrated throughout 2018 how difficult it is to bring new lithium chemicals to market.
The company has overcome a range of operational, environmental, financial and government challenges, overcome all the difficulties and transform its world-
Bring carbonate oz lithium carbonate production facility to market.
This is the first new lithium brine facility to enter commercial production in more than 20 years.
Despite the many successes of the company, it still achieves the nameplate production capacity.
Investors have been penalizing the company\'s shares.
Obviously, this has had a negative impact on other exploration and early development
Stage producers in the region, including dominant lithium (OTC: OTCQX: avlf)
And lithium America (OTC:LAC).
Orocobre field visit 2017-Argentina -
The author offers CY Q1 2018, and shares of Orocobre are traded around $7.
Mark 00, about $300,000,000 invested by Toyota Tsusho (OTC: OTCPK: TYHOF).
At the end of 2018, as the company was hit by a difficult political environment in Argentina, the stock trading price was about $3/share, affected by production challenges and lower than expected prices of chemical products.
Sales of lithium carbonate at Olaroz lithium chemical plant are expected to be around 5,000 tons in the second half of December at $12,500/ton, which is much higher than their production cost of about $4,000/ton.
Nemaska paid a smooth salary increase of $ month. Canada-
Lithium, based in Nemaska, was 2018 successful as the company attracted more than $1 billion in capital commitments and will establish a vertical-
Integrated lithium chemical operations from mine operations to hydrogen oxide or carbonate production.
In addition to raising the necessary funding requirements, the company has attracted a variety of highquality off-take partners.
This further demonstrates the needs of various interested parties seeking the supply of lithium chemicals.
Although the company has successfully implemented its strategy, 2018 is a year of bloodshed for investors.
The company\'s shares rose 2018 at around $2.
About $20/share and quit for a year.
But still maintain a strong market value of about $0. 5 billion.
Lithium Nemaska
Whabochi website visits 2018 in the fourth quarter-
The author said in terms of market exploration that 2018 was much quieter than 2017.
In 2017, many companies identified the land package and began assembling the financing and exploration package.
Although many companies have achieved good exploration results, the market has quickly determined that the proximity of lithium assets to infrastructure is crucial.
Work Plan for explosion and bulk samples
Lithium Project-
Vale mining area-
The authors say to a large extent that shares of lithium exploration companies operating in remote parts of the world have been sold heavily.
There are still some good lithium exploration companies in the ruins that are still good
Unlimited lithium has been funded and delivered (OTCQB:ARXRF)
Explore the accumulated bonus properties in Northern Ontario.
In December 2018, the market value of unlimited lithium exceeded $5 million, which is a good investment opportunity for an investor who believes that lithium exploration stocks can play a role in the future of the lithium supply chain.
The rapid expansion position of battery manufacturers in lithium supply chain battery manufacturing, 2018 is a decisive year for all companies to announce new capacity.
Throughout 2018, BYD (OTCPK:BYDDF)
LG Chemical, CATL (OTCPK:LGCLF)
Many other companies have also announced their strategic plans to stay ahead of the industry.
The announced expansion plans include the global expansion of LG Chem at 32GWh, the CATL China and Germany at 38 GWh, and the BYD China expansion at 60 GWh.
Even these lithium battery manufacturers have pointed out the way for more than 100 GWh battery expansion plans in the next few years.
More than 2020, considering that CATL has announced their intention to increase-
Increase global lithium battery production to at least 100 GWh and Tesla (TSLA)
They have said their goal is to increase the production of gigabit plants to 150 gigawatt hours.
The related announcement of 2018 came a few months after many automakers announced their entry into the electric vehicle market, indicating how the supply chain has been affected.
Due to the rapid increase in electricity mobility and the growth of housingand utility-
With the expansion of the energy storage market, the supply of lithium batteries has lagged behind demand.
This has caused high-
Especially in the NCM market, lithium batteries with high quality and available for bank use. Lower-
High-quality LFP battery modules from secondary suppliers have not been commercially successful, resulting in an oversupply of Chinese products.
In 2018, battery manufacturers seeking a stable supply had a strong interest in the lithium industry, which in turn led to M & A activities.
As battery and material manufacturers announced plans to expand production, Tesla Motors, LG Chem, CATL, NorthVolt and many other companies followed up on announcements about the supply of lithium chemicals.
Obviously, long-
The long-term supply of lithium chemicals is critical to battery and material manufacturers.
In fact, CATL, one of China\'s leading NMC and LFP battery manufacturers, successfully completed its IPO in Asia, announcing a battery supply agreement with European Tier 1 automakers, announced the establishment of new battery manufacturing facilities in China and Europe and the acquisition of lithium-
Produce assets in the Vale orro mining area in Quebec, Canada.
Despite the poor record of the lithium assets in Quebec, it is currently shipping lithium pyroxene concentrate to China for processing, a pioneer in entering the battery supply chain.
The Chinese group is also actively acquiring production and exploration assets in Quebec, South America and other parts of Australia.
This shows that it will take a long time for China.
Game status in lithium supply chain.
The electric vehicle charging technology and infrastructure industry attracted growth capital and completed several acquisitions in 2018.
The government, utilities, and automakers are committed to deploying infrastructure, which I think is a measure of how fast electric vehicles can run.
California alone plans to deploy 1,500,000 zero.
The displacement in 2025 grew to 5,000,000 vehicles in 2030, while Japan aims to set up 100% zero
Vehicles will be discharged by 2030.
It is expected that by 2030, 40 million electric vehicle charging points will be deployed worldwide to support the development of electric vehicles around the world.
Tesla electric vehicle charging station, Ontario
In 2018, the charging point of electric vehicle charging technology attracted an astonishing $240,000,000 in growth capital.
With New Jersey, California and New York announced in 2018 that it would cost a total of $1, the investment is expected to continue.
Charging infrastructure for 3 billion electric vehicles.
In addition, many power companies in the United States that will benefit from the growth in electricity demand have announced that they will provide incentives or investments to support the transition to electric vehicles.
The same story has also been echoed around the world, including Italy, where major power companies have announced plans to install 14,000 charging stations.
Home energy storage is no longer a \"cool toy \". In 2018, there was a significant growth in all categories of fixed energy storage markets, especially in the utilities sector --
Huge market for projects and housing.
In the German residential market, the industry has installed more than 100,000 systems, while the South Australian government continues to advance its residential energy storage program, which aims to install 40,000 systems in the coming years.
With Puerto Rico and other islands restored to the grid after Hurricane Irma and Maria, the Caribbean market has also broken through.
It is reported that all new solar installations in Puerto Rico now have battery systems installed, and many existing system owners are transforming systems including batteries. Eguana (OTCQB:EGTYF)
Household battery systemPuerto Rico -
The \"large scale\" utility project provided by the Author
The scale part of the fixed energy storage market has witnessed incredible demand and has had the greatest impact on the lithium supply chain.
In the past 24 months, many utilities have passed the super-scale projects.
In recent weeks, we have seen a California utility announcing plans to deploy up to 2 multiple energy storage parks.
CAPACITY 2 GWh.
This is equivalent to about 45,000 electric vehicles.
These types of energy storage parks are getting financing quickly, while products are usually packaged directly in or near the battery manufacturing plant as container solutions.
This allows for quick installation of the solution, which creates a demand vacuum in a very short period of time.
Solar photovoltaic ground installation-Ontario -
According to a recent report, American utility companies --
The large-scale energy storage pipeline is more than 30 GWh, equivalent to more than 500,000 electric vehicles.
Another new trend in the past 24 months is an attachment to very large utilities --
Expand the Battery Park to renewable energy parks including wind power and solar power.
With the development of solar and wind energy technologies, more batteries are needed to control the production of renewable energy.
The use case of lithium batteries that are not connected to renewable energy is another super
The growth market for the lithium supply chain, as utilities across the country have expressed interest in deploying energy storage systems to offset the need to build more Peaker plants, or in some cases, replace the existing Peaker factory.
In 2018, the industry saw bold goals from governments around the world, including: 1 in New York.
5 GWh to 2025, North Carolina to 2030 at 1 GWh, South Africa to 2021 at 2 GWh, Nevada to 2030 at 4 GWh, Ireland to 2021 at 400 MWh,
7 GWh to 2020, New Jersey to 2030 at 2 GWh, MA to 2023 at 500 MWH, Arizona to 2030 at 3 GWh.
Energy storage combined with solar photovoltaic will provide low
Cost, reliable energy to remote parts of the world, especially as a second
In the next half a decade, life batteries entered the market.
This will reduce demand for transmission lines and energy infrastructure and can be compared with the way mobile phones span landlines in developing countries.
Electric buses are still an important growth market. Finally, China\'s electric bus market has reached a turning point. Almost all major North American and European transit authorities have a very encouraging list of pilot projects.
Although North America and Europe are lagging behind China in the production and deployment of electric buses, the goal at this stage is broad
Large-scale adoption in the next 5 to 10 years.
On 2018, it was announced that 4,000 electric buses will be deployed in Guangzhou, China, indicating the potential of Chinese electric buses.
This provides another huge market opportunity for the lithium supply chain.
The three categories of the passenger car manufacturing industry that I pay close attention to are: Bus, municipal and school bus.
While changing the municipal bus fleet often makes headlines, the biggest opportunity is the yellow school bus fleet in North America.
I believe that an increasing number of transit authorities in Europe and North America will continue to announce pilot projects in 2019 and have spillover effects on the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America.
On 2018, Chilean officials announced the purchase of 100 electric buses, indicating that demand for electric buses in South America has risen.
The main goal of the transition to an electric bus fleet is to reduce ground-
Emission levels in urban and commercial environments.
Major North American transit authorities, including Toronto, New York and Los Angeles, have outlined plans to achieve zero distance
Emissions fleet between 20302040.
Montreal electric bus charging station-
The author supliedi believes that the future of electric buses is just a question of when it will happen.
I expect sales to continue to grow, given the current political support for them, combined with a drop in battery and motor costs.
China has deployed about 2017 electric buses in 90,000 countries, and the rest of the world is testing these platforms.
These pilot projects will bring a wider range of opportunities, including 400,000 yellow school buses in North America and 900,000 European municipal buses.
California recently promised to have 100% electric bus fleets, totaling 1,500 buses, by 2029.
The transition to clean energy technology is progressing smoothly.
2018 is another important year in the lithium supply chain, as first-class lithium battery production companies have announced major expansion plans and have begun to raise the necessary funds to deploy the relevant strategies.
Initiatives to increase lithium battery production will ensure that supply can meet the needs of major applications such as electric vehicles, which in turn will have the potential to increase the supply of secondary applications such as fixed energy storage systems and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Considering the slow ramp
Improved global battery module and battery manufacturing capabilities, taking into account the rapid growth of electric vehicles and large utilities --
Large-scale energy storage systems, it is difficult to imagine the oversupply of battery modules in the next few years.
Most large battery and material manufacturers have prepared for the safety of lithium chemicals in the coming years.
China has begun to improve its conversion capacity, which could be a good source of supply for domestic producers.
Although there has been concern about oversupply, the profits of lithium chemical producers are still very healthy, with few greenfield projects funded and are expected to bring new meaningful production to the market in the next five years.
It is clear that the demand for lithium chemical products will continue to increase as battery manufacturers increase the supply of equipment to meet the global demand for e-commerce.
Power generation from mobile and renewable sources.
It is expected that global battery manufacturing capacity will increase from 175GWh in 2017 to 630GWh by 2022 and gwh by 2030.
Ultimately, this will generate demand for additional project expansion and create a way for new greenfield projects to find access to the market.
Although I don\'t expect 2019 to be a strong year for lithium exploration and production companies, there is no doubt that \"lithium foam 3 \".
Once the recently announced battery plant is in production and an expansion plan is in place, 0\' will appear.