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who would sell at .0029 right now... makes no sense... any thoughts?
Based mainly on this board's chatter, I predict an announcement regarding the TT deal, Ameritrade status, and release date of STv2.
The biggest variable would be the Ameritrade deal status.
Regardless, the other two factors should drive up the share price quite a bit.
Any sales forecasts would help even more.
So the trend should be up... just how much, we'll have to wait and see!
News article about lithium tech initiatives
Clinton bargains for better fuel economy
Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton makes campaign offer to Detroit automakers: tougher fuel economy standards in exchange for health care aid.
June 9 2007: 10:02 PM EDT
DETROIT (Reuters) -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Saturday offered a double-barreled campaign message for the struggling U.S. auto industry: accept tougher fuel economy standards in exchange for federal help with the costly burden of retiree health care.
Speaking at a union hall, Clinton also pledged new U.S. government investment in technologies that promise sharp gains in engine efficiency, such as lithium-ion batteries, an area where Japanese suppliers lead the pack.
CNN's Eunice Yoon reports on how Toyota is dealing with being No. 1 after passing GM in quarterly car sales (May 8)
"I know we have to do more to support the American auto industry and to support the American auto worker," she said.
Clinton's speech before a loud and supportive crowd of several hundred mostly AFL-CIO members marked a contrast in tone on the ailing U.S. auto industry from Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton's leading challenger for the Democratic nomination.
Obama said in a Detroit appearance last month that the U.S. automakers had not moved fast enough to answer the rising demand for more fuel efficient cars, remarks that rankled both Michigan politicians and industry leaders.
3 big questions for Detroit's Big Three
In what she called a "win-win" policy prescription for Detroit, Clinton advocated reducing average fuel consumption and shoring up the payroll of an industry that has lost over 150,000 jobs in the past three years.
She repeated her backing for stricter U.S. fuel economy standards in pending legislation aimed at the heart of the still truck-heavy lineup offered by Detroit automakers.
General Motors Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500), Ford Motor Co. (Charts, Fortune 500) and Chrysler Group have lobbied to slow the proposed increases in fuel economy standards.
The U.S. Senate is expected to take up a bill that would require raising average fleet fuel economy to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from about 25 miles per gallon currently.
The bill would also mandate 4 percent annual increases in corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE standards, after that.
Detroit automakers have countered that the proposal would cost jobs and force them to build smaller vehicles that American drivers have been unwilling to buy.
Clinton said the U.S. automakers would have to accept the changes, but said in exchange the government could also help offset the retiree health care costs seen as the ailing industry's single biggest liability.
In talks set to begin next month with the United Auto Workers union, the three automakers have said they will press for deep concessions in benefits, including health care.
Taken together, the automakers carry about $91 billion in unfunded retiree health care and life insurance claims and spend some $12 billion on health care each year.
Clinton said negotiating health care should not be the UAW's responsibility, saying she favored steps that would "lift some legacy costs from the auto industry."
She did not specify how that government guarantee could be structured or funded.
One idea being considered by all three Detroit automakers would shift the burden of retiree health care to a trust fund controlled by the UAW in exchange for a one-time payment, similar to a a deal struck by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (Charts, Fortune 500) with its union.
Thanks. I concur... I hope the funds will be used for increasing production capabilities... it would be nice if they let us know.
In another year, $1.19 will look like $.26 does now. WWAT's climb is just beginning. Imagine what will happen to the share price when WWAT starts announcing projects in the 50-200 megawatt range.
Doc, what's your take on this?
Thanks for posting.
Nice blog review of some recent government activity that relates to the plug-in hybrid industry... p
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/06/httpwpweb2teppe.html#more
resents a strong argument for accelerating the development of plug-in hybrid production... which means they would need to use batteries that are working now, not in development- which is good for LTHU prospects
interesting article/analysis from February
not sure if this was posted already (I did look for it but did not see it anywhere). Anyhow, a good overview article for newbies to this company such as myself.
Article accessed at: http://www.cleantechblog.com/labels/greentech.html
--------------------
Could Solvent-Free Manufacturing Technology Help Make Lithium Polymer Batteries a Reality?
Author Neal Dikeman is a founding partner at Jane Capital Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank advising strategic investors and startups in cleantech. He is the founding contributor of Cleantech Blog, and a Contributing Editor to AltEnergyStocks.com.
-----------
I had a chance to chat with Dr. Klaus Brandt, EVP of Lithium Technology Corporation (Ticker symbol LTHU.PK). LTC has been in the business of Lion battery development for over 10 years. They are focused on large energy content / high power applications, primarily using lithium polymer technologies.
The Company was formed 4 years ago through a merger of a German battery startup called and LTC. Dr. Brandt is the Executive Vice President of LTC and Managing Director of their GAIA GmbH subsidiary, joining GAIA in April, 2005. A 25 year battery industry veteran, Gaia is his 5th battery company. He previously worked for Duracell (US) and VARTA (Germany), Moli Energy & Ionity. He holds a PhD, Physics from Tech Inst of Munich.
They haven’t disclosed much on their customers, but are focused on the military markets (especially for unmanned vehicles, like UAVs, they have one announced participation with Phoenix), and in niche industrial markets like robotics. The holy grail opportunity, of course is the EV, HEV and Plug-in hybrid automotive markets, where LiOn technology has an opportunity to displace NiMh, if it can drive costs down far enough. So far LTC has been working on early demonstrator projects in this area, but doesn’t appear to have hit the big one yet.
A quote from a recent press release on some of LTC’s activities in the plug-in hybrid sector.
"LTC has powered a project in conjunction with Innosys Engineering in which a four passenger Daihatsu Cuore was converted into an electric car using the lithium-ion batteries and a three-phase asynchronous electric motor. The battery, built with cells manufactured by LTC subsidiary GAIA, has a capacity of 25 kWh and an approximate highway range of 180-200km (100-125 miles) at 90-100km/hr (56-60 mph). These results are similar to the expected performance of the recently announced Volt slated to be made available by General Motors in 2010. "The technology is here today. LTC has it, and we've demonstrated it," says Dr. Brandt. "Price is the biggest factor holding back the production of these more environmentally friendly, fuel efficient vehicles. By committing to work together, the auto manufactures and battery companies can bring the cost down and make cars like the Volt an affordable reality for the consumer." LTC's technology was recently highlighted in a video produced by Plug-In Partners, a national grass-roots initiative to demonstrate to automakers that a market for flexible-fuel PHEVs exists today. The full video discussing the economic and environmental benefits of PHEVs can be viewed on the Plug-In Partners website.
The piece featured a project in which LTC provided cells to the University of California, Davis Hybrid Electric Vehicle Group for the conversion of a Chevy Equinox to a PHEV as part of the Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility engineering competition. The lithium-ion battery has the same capacity as the original metal hydride battery but with half the weight. The battery can be charged by either the internal combustion engine (ICE) or a standard AC household electrical socket and can drive over 40 miles on the overnight electrical charge. The converted vehicle has a fuel economy of 36 mpg in the city, and 38 mpg on the highway, as compared to the original Chevy Equinox range of 19 mpg city and 25 mpg highway.”
As a result of the merger with Gaia, Arch Hill Ventures, NV, the venture capital firm behind Gaia, now has a dominant stake in the company. I couldn’t find much information on Arch easily available, though.
The company trades over the counter in the US, and has struggled financially (revenues are around $2 mm/year), and it loses money, and the stock price for the last several years has reflected this. Of course, it doesn’t help that the company doesn’t seem to have filed a 10-K or 10-Q since May of 2006. In December the company earned a reprieve raised $3 mm in a Series C Preferred Stock at a valuation on the order of $23 mm, and converted about $2.4 mm in debt.
In Germany the company is manufacturing cylindrical cells, and packaging them into batteries, and doing some prod development, along with EU sales. In the US Dr. Bradnt says they do a limited production of flat cells, the US sales and marketing, as well engineering and assembly of batteries for American customers.
But aside from all that, I asked Dr. Brandt to give me a summary walk through of the technology, what makes it neat, and what the cost and performance advantages are.
The brief from their website:
“LTC's unique technology allows for the production of very large cells with a high capacity and high power capability.
LTC's wholly owed affiliate GAIA Akkumulatorenwerke in Nordhausen, Germany employs a unique patented extrusion process for producing electrodes for lithium ion cells. This process is environmentally friendly (no solvent) and eliminates the need for expensive explosion proof coating and solvent recovery equipment. Using high speed winding and a unique assembly technology, large cylindrical cells are manufactured. In our Plymouth Meeting facility, we have the capability to build large footprint flat cells and stack them to form large batteries. Our proprietary technology includes critical composition, processing, and packaging aspects of the battery. Our coating, lamination and extrusion know-how enables us to achieve uniformity and consistency through a range of application techniques. Batteries for the consumer, transportation, and industrial markets require different electro-chemical systems that we believe can be easily accommodated by our extrusion process.”
According to my conversation with Dr. Brandt, LTC has two core technologies. The first is this extrusion process for a part of the cell manufacturing for either LiOn or Lithium Polymer batteries. The uniqueness is a way to avoid the use of large amounts of solvents in the process of manufacturing electrodes from electrode powders.
Normally, you make electrodes by a coating process. Taking electrode powders and mixing them in an organic solvent with has a binder and any additives dissolved in it. This results in a fairly viscous slurry with typically more than half organic solvents . Then battery manufacturers typically use a coating process (usually a printing type roller process or some sort of foil through narrow slit, controlling deposition quality mechanically) to coat the slurry onto a current collector, usually a thin metal foil, and in a post process step heat the electrode to evaporate the solvent, which by volume is often greater than the active material.
Typically the make-up of the solvents used is key intellectual property for the battery manufacturer, but most are highly volatile and toxic chemicals, and need to be recycled in some sort of a closed loop system that is generally equipment and energy intensive (read costly, and not very green).
The LTC process is different. LTC runs an extrusion process as follows – make the electrode powders into mixture of powder materials directly with a special polymer binder, which flows under some pressure and temperature, and extrude the mixture into a film sheet. The process runs in the range from 200-300F up to 350-400F, and uses off the shelf plastic extrusion equipment. As second step, LTC then laminates the film to the foil. The lamination allows good control of all kinds of properties. The whole thing is roughly similar to low temperature polymer membrane construction process.
The trick is the mix of the polymers. If mix isn’t right you can’t keep mechanical consistency or can’t control thickness of the film and uniform distribution of the components. The polymer mix also affects the binding properties.
They claim the process does not really affect the cell manufacturing or the electrolyte relative to other processes. And Dr. Brandt says it has applicability for lithium ion as well as lithium polymer.
The advantage - no solvent extraction, cleaning, and recycling process equipment, and reduced energy use. Basically a more efficient, greener, cleaner process. LTC estimates their process can reduce a cost structure on the order of 5-10% improvement over conventional technology, a big improvement in battery manufacturing techniques.
The main challenges are those similar to all lithium ion and lithium polymer battery manufacturers. In the area of automotive and HEVs, they need to address cost. Scale of production is obviously a main cost down concern for LTC at this point, but materials costs are a close second. Like all lithium polymer technologies, the materials in general are still quite high.
On the performance side, Dr. Brandt walked through another interesting technology development.
They are able to build relatively large systems at a similar power density and power rate to smaller systems compared to other manufacturers, especially useful in areas like submarine and UAV batteries.
They also get high power and excellent charge/discharge rates – on some cell types up to 80% of the energy in 2 - 3 minutes.
The trick here is LTC’s technology to manage the thermal issues in the way they make the electrical connections between electrodes and terminals in the wound cells. LTC essentially makes electrical connections at every turn of a wound cell, directly connecting each cell to the terminal, using massive (relatively) terminals. They do it with a special trick they have developed to easily allow a large number of the multiple connections.
All in all, a fascinating story. One I will have to follow closely and see how well the company pulls through its recent financial straits.
Labels: alternative energy, Batteries, cleantech, energy, greentech, HEV, Hybrid, Lithium ion, Plug-in, renewable energy
I got it now, just took a while, even though not using AON... it was wierd, since the low today was .0026. Anyhow, I now have 500K and am pretty stoked for the rest of June!
I've been trying to buy another 100K at 0.0027 since yesterday afternoon and no luck yet.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/070604/lthu.pk8-k.html
Can someone interpret this article?
I interpret it as lthu paying off a debt, which would be a good sign, but I just want to make sure.
Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.
On October 7, 2005, Lithium Technology Corporation ("Lithium") entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement with Cornell Capital Partners, LP ("Cornell") pursuant to which Lithium issued a secured convertible debenture in the principal amount of $3,000,000 (the "Debenture"), with an original maturity date of October 7, 2006 and issued to Cornell five-year warrants to purchase shares of Lithium common stock (the "Warrants"). Lithium and Cornell entered into certain amendment agreements dated January 31, 2006, March 21, 2006, October 31, 2006, March 31, 2007 and April 23, 2007 (the "Amendments"). Pursuant to the April 23, 2007 amendment, the Debenture was repayable on or before July 1, 2007.
On May 30, 2007 Lithium entered into a further letter agreement with Cornell (the "Letter Agreement"). As of May 30, 2007 the principal and interest due to Cornell under the Debenture was $3,009,711.06. The Letter Agreement provided for the conversion by Cornell of $288,721.73 of the principal of the Debenture into 22,556,385 restricted shares of Lithium common stock (the "Conversion") and the repayment by Lithium of the balance due of principal and interest owing to Cornell under the Debenture (after taking into account the Conversion) in the amount of $2,720,989.33. Upon the Conversion by Cornell and the Repayment by Lithium, no amounts are outstanding to Cornell under the Debenture and Cornell agreed to release its security interest in Lithium's assets and return 250,000,000 shares of Lithium common stock that were pledged as security for the Debenture. In the Letter Agreement Section 3(a)(ii)(A) of the Debenture, which limited Cornell's ownership of Lithium common stock to 4.9% of Lithium's outstanding shares, was deleted in its entirety.
The Letter Agreement further provided that the exercise price of the 40,000,000 Warrants held by Cornell was changed from $0.0128 to $0.0328. In the Letter Agreement Lithium agreed to: (i) complete the audit of its financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2005 and 2006 by September 1, 2007 and file its required SEC periodic reporting filings by such date; and (ii) invest $3 million in capital expenses by December 31, 2007 for further capacity of its facility in Germany. In the event Lithium fails to meet either condition (i) or
(ii), the exercise price of the Warrants will be reduced to $0.0128 per share.
sorry for posting the same info twice
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed_gm_0606jun06,0,1910828.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
Okay, update on GM deal... they apparently launched R&D projects with two other lithium battery companies, but they are just research projects
I still think that because lthu is so far ahead of the competition, then they will be at the head of the pack when it comes to a real production deal.
Please email GM to remind them just how good lthu is compared to the competition
http://www.chevrolet.com/contactus/getinformation/
In response to "In addition each lithium-ion battery pack, if it were built today, would need a few pounds of cobalt"
Advantage: Lthu doesn't use cobalt- they use iron phosphate
In response to the quote below, just look at the volumes traded over the last year, and you can see that interest in this company goes far beyond the regular posters on this board. There's been a huge spike in volume. Why? version 2 of course. If you are patient enough, you will have a concrete example of why:D
"A simple Google search for "SpoozTools" will yield various message board posts from a year and a half ago with the same people spewing the same garbage. I can only imagine how much money those people have lost due to Paul's financing methods and then I realize why these people post this nonsense."
more reasons
one year ahead of competition
environmentally sensitive battery chemistry and manufacturing process
US car manufacturers are desperate for a good green product... look at how much they've invested in hydrogen research which is a long shot tech in my opinion
experienced staff, tech-competent leadership
FYI http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jan07/4848
it's a little old, but the GM comments in there are encouraging for lthu holders... if we're 1 year ahead and a US company with considerable experience, and an environmentally friendly (relatively) high performance battery, I'd say we're a front runner for the GM deal... see below
Lithium Batteries for Hybrid Cars
By John Voelcker
Hybrid cars need to travel farther in electric-only mode, and that means lithium-ion battery technologies have a lot riding on them
PHOTO: General Motors
Chevrolet's Volt is the first series hybrid concept car shown by a major manufacturer. In a series hybrid, the engine's only job is to crank a generator; electric power does all the rest of the work.
In late November General Motors announced plans to release a vehicle that will be able to go long distances in electric-only mode. It thus became the first U.S. company to commit to producing a so-called plug-in hybrid design—one that has batteries so capacious that they can be recharged not only by the engine but also from wall current in the garage. It represents the next way station along the path to an all-electric vehicle.
Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, told IEEE Spectrum that a plug-in version of the Saturn Vue Green Line sport-utility vehicle could hit dealer lots 24 months after the launch, in 2009, of a standard hybrid version using GM's "two-mode hybrid" transmission. He would not, however, commit to a specific date or even a year.
Tellingly, GM has not yet announced where it will get the lithium-ion batteries that any plug-in requires. Only such batteries—the kind used in laptops—pack enough energy to sustain electric-only mode for 32 kilometers (20 miles), the range generally regarded as necessary. In a statement released on 4 January, in the runup to the Detroit Motor Show, the company did say that it had agreed to support the battery technology programs of two joint ventures, and that it would also assess the technologies of other, unnamed companies.
Beyond plug-ins: the Volt
Although plug-in hybrids involve larger batteries, their fundamental design hardly varies from that of other, mechanical-drive cars. More radical is the “series hybrid electric” car, which powers the wheels with electric motors and uses the onboard combustion engine only to run a backup generator that recharges the batteries as needed.
The Chevrolet Volt, unveiled to the press on 7 January at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show, is the first-ever series hybrid concept car shown by a major manufacturer. For an animated tour of its innards, click here. Its 1.0-liter, 3-cylinder turbocharged engine runs an onboard 53-kilowatt generator that recharges a 16-kilowatthour lithium-ion battery made of 80 four-volt cells. The battery pack’s volume is 100 L, one-third as much as the lead-acid batteries in GM’s 1990s-issue electric car, the EV1. GM’s targeted maximum weight for the pack is 180 kilograms (400 pounds). The company also wants the battery to last at least 10 years, through 4,000 full-discharge cycles.
The battery pack would charge in less than 6.5 hours, power a 120-kW electric motor delivering 320 newton-meters of peak torque, and go 64 km (40 miles) in all-electric mode on battery charge alone. The 12-gallon gasoline tank would add an additional 965 km (600 miles) to that range.
“We don’t have a battery pack yet,” said Tony Posawatz, the vehicle line director. He confirmed that the vehicle shown in Detroit doesn’t yet run.
Lithium ion: light and cheap
Everything thus depends on the pace of development of lithium-ion batteries. Right now they’re the only candidate for the job, because they store more than twice as much energy (110 to 130 watt hours per kilogram) as the next-best technology, the nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries in today’s gas-electric hybrids. The reason: lithium is the lightest solid element, so it’s easily portable. What’s more, it’s cheap.
To make lithium-ion batteries practical for mass-produced electric-drive vehicles, new technologies must increase the energy the batteries store and the speed with which they can discharge it. They must also lengthen cycle life to 15 years or 241 000 km (150 000 miles)—the average life of a vehicle. Finally, they must keep the cost as low as possible.
The technology has advanced quickly, says Mark Duvall, manager of technology development for electric transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute, in Palo Alto, Calif. He’s “impressed and bullish” on the prospects for new lithium variants, some of which EPRI has tested to ascertain their cycle lives.
The first production car to use lithium-ion batteries was the Toyota Vitz CVT 4, a small car sold only in Japan. It used a four-cell, 12 ampere-hour lithium-ion battery pack to power its electric accessories and restart the engine after idle stop. More recently, Tesla Motors, in San Carlos, Calif., has offered the Tesla Roadster, an all-electric sports car that uses 6831 lithium-ion cells, each roughly the size of a double-A battery. They give the car up to 400 km (250 miles) of range, as well as the breathtaking acceleration of 0 to 100 kilometers per hour (0 to 60 miles per hour) in less than 4 seconds.
Why use so many little cells? First, because they’re readily available, and second, because current lithium technology is susceptible to thermal runaway—a problem underlined recently by flaming laptops—and larger cells mean greater risk. The Tesla’s 410-kg (900-pound) battery pack is stuffed not only with cells but also with sensors and control logic designed to detect and isolate any misbehaving cell.
Wow, crazy night last night... i guess this board thing has its pluses and minuses
i hope you all find some peace today.
I think perhaps the general market is discovering it.
I think the governator was great pr
we are also speculating that a big deal may be on its way, but when I've watched the feeding frenzy, it seems like mostly small sharks buying one to ten thousand chunks, so I'm not sure.
Whatever the cause, I'm pretty stoked about it. What's kicking me is that I sold 1000 shares when we hit 0.91, thinking it would do the usual drop after a surge... but the drop was minor and the aftershock was huge! thankfully i still have 4000 to cheer about. I don't think there's a person out there not saying "I should have bought more- should I still buy more?" :D
sorry for using the rs word!
don't worry- if it happened, it would be in the best interest of the shareholders and probably only come in the form of a huge buyout.
i have most of my money in wwat and that is where it is staying!
Yeah, that'd be sweet. There was a vote at the shareholder's meeting on whether or not to give the board power to do a (1:4) reverse-split if and only if a merger was on the table and the share price jumped over a dollar. ONe of those criteria has been met... I'm not sure how the vote went though.
that info came out last week via other sources, but yeah, i guess it took awhile for people to catch on...
any takes on why volume so low?? seems way below daily average of late...
Congrats folks- we are no longer a penny stock! We'll see if it stays that way... I don't know about you, but I'm holding on tight... that last rush came out of nowhere... no news that I could find, but .25 up! crazy!
Hi Spooz crew,
just wanted to say thanks for getting the word out about this stock... i think i got in just in time from the sound of things.
i was able to get 200K shares yesterday, and the sellers were a bit stubborn, so that's good.
I'll be sure to check in frequently to hear what the experts have to say about this stock.
peace