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Looks like Yahoo discontinued listing all pink sheet securities.
I believe I heard the first part, "that PWTC will deliver their patented collectors to AXION POWER on Feb 15th..."
I believe that this part is possible, "Axion will install them into their batteries on Feb 16th. Then test those batteries on Feb 17th"
I believe the rest (buyout of 3.00/share) is very wishful thinking. On second thought, impossible!
Yes, thanks Bob and thanks to Wolf also. eom
Yes, too much and un-necessary. Gives a bad impression even if intentions are not to use that amount.
Nice site Trainz. Thanks! eom
Oh, that's REALLY novel. Good going hasher! I can't wait for an encore. lol
Speaking of "beating a dead horse". Hasher can't you come up with anything novel? lol
Correct on all counts. eom
Trainz, I wonder what those batteries cost? eom
I agree Sleo. But the financial aspects of the company are equally important for success.
Steve, I don't know if they're "doing the same old tricks" or not. What I do know is they're not letting any shares go out until after the shareholders vote of approval happens, if it happens. That's why Walter had to put up all his personal shares as collateral for the bridge loan. That's the only thing he has to work with to obtain the needed cash right now. I just don't see how one radio talk show interview can be construed as a pump and dump effort. Our share price rise began and coincided with the time that the Pilot Plant became operational enough to "show". In fact, it's held up better than I thought.
In listening to it, I doubt that the radio show was successful of drawing any interest.
But yes, there's much to bitch about and there's much improvement that's needed. Like I mentioned in my previous post, "There are a lot of unhappy large investors that share the same concern. Hopefully, some positve changes will be made soon."
Mlf, I certainly understand longs not being "giddy" over PT. Like you, I'm far from being giddy myself. I'm still down considerably. Yes, we have problems and management throughout has made things more screwed up than they needed to be. There are a lot of legitimate things to complain about like the ones you just mentioned for instance. I could name a bunch more and I have.
What I abhor is, certain individuals that make unfounded accusations and ignorant derogatory remarks whenever they get a chance all the while seemingly enjoying it. Not to mention possibly benefiting from it.
Addressing your concerns again, yes, we have a dilution problem not to mention we've had and still have a cash burn problem. IT HAS TO STOP if ever you, I and others here are to benefit at all.
We need more than a substantive PR and I think it's being addressed. There are a lot of unhappy large investors that share the same concern. Hopefully, some positve changes will be made soon.
Sincerly,
Don
For you giddy ones, who are apparently lacking any understanding of business necessities and arrangements, ...
Bridge Loan
A short-term loan that is used until a person or company secures permanent financing or removes an existing obligation. This type of financing allows the user to meet current obligations by providing immediate cash flow. The loans are short-term (up to one year) with relatively high interest rates and are backed by some form of collateral such as real estate or inventory.
Also known as "interim financing", "gap financing or a "swing loan".
As the term implies, these loans "bridge the gap" between times when financing is needed. They are used by both corporations and individuals and can be customized for many different situations. For example, let's say that a company is doing a round of equity financing that is expecting to close in six months. A bridge loan could be used to secure working capital until the round of funding goes through.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bridgeloan.asp
Need you be educated or reminded that the company has no revenues to speak of? That the company has ongoing costs? The company hasn't been able to issue shares (that's what non-revenue generating companies do for payment of these costs) since the authorized shares error came to light a number of months ago.
Thus the necessity of a bridge loan.
So revel in ignorance if you so desire and good luck in buying back at .03
With the volume that we had prior to the PR, I would think that something more newswise should be on it's way. But I've been wrong before. lol
Fancy Food Show Success, E-Water's $10,000 Shot and Puerto Rico.
Tuesday February 6, 3:10 pm ET
BLUE ISLAND, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RushNet, Inc.'s (Pink Sheets:RSHN - News) attendance at the recent Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco yielded many new retail store authorizations and other potential new customers. Held in San Francisco's Moscone Center, the show was attended by over 14,000 buyers and key executives from the Gourmet Foods, Supermarket, Convenience Store, Natural Foods and Restaurant channels plus other Food Industry professionals.
RushNet, Inc. used this platform to introduce their attractive new design for the Organic Apple Rush 100% Juice line which has grown to six flavors, all in 4-Paks; Apple, Raspberry Apple, Pomegranate Apple, Black Cherry Apple, Cranberry Apple and Strawberry Apple. The company plans its first full production of all these items at the end of February.
Robert Corr, RushNet President commented: "The show went better than we expected, although we are always optimistic going into trade shows and try to make the most of these opportunities. At this show, and the upcoming Expo West in March, will be featuring our re-designed and newly expanded Organic Apple Rush 100% Juice line. The positive feedback we received on the look of the products, and the way they tasted, was impressive. Interest was strong in this line because no one else has Sparkling Organic 100% Juice in the dominant 12oz package. A number of chains indicated they would be authorizing the whole line, and we were also encouraged how much interest e-water created in this respect too. This show turned out to be a strong asset in getting our message out to retailers and developing new distribution for all our products. A number of RushNet investors visited us at the booth and we were heartened by their confidence in us and our products. We do our best to deliver on that trust."
e-water recently sponsored the $10,000 Half Court Money Shot at a benefit for the South Cook County Firemen's Fund on January 27. The Firemen lost to a team of the '85 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champs, with players like #51 Jim Morrissey, #82 Ken Margerum, #80 Tim Wrightman and a host of others. It turned out to be a fun night for all at the well-attended event. The $10,000 e-water money shot was taken by Kevin Rickar who was selected from those in the audience who purchased raffle tickets for the Fireman's Fund. Unfortunately for Kevin it wasn't his night. He missed his half court shot, as did three Firemen, who were selected by their teammates to take the same shot for $500. All did walk away with an e-water t-shirt, cap and a case of water. We at RushNet, Inc. and e-water want to thank Kevin Ricker and the Fireman for a good effort on their shots. Photos of the event will be available soon on the RushNet website.
RushNet, Inc. also announces that the shipment of its first container of products to the Caribbean has arrived in Puerto Rico and is making its way into retail stores now. RushNet sees this as just the start of its venture into developing the Caribbean market. The company continues to develop its contacts in Jamaica, Trinidad/ Tobago, and Antigua as well as a number of other islands.
Robert Corr stated: "Seeking export business has always been a priority for us, even though we always believed that our greatest potential is to market our products within the U.S. While attending a slew of trade shows over the last year we have found that there is a real interest from other countries in health-based products. We see a genuine need for our types of products globally and will continue to develop export business, as we are with e-water in Japan, as part of our overall growth plan."
Disclaimer: The Company relies upon the Safe Harbor Laws of 1933, 1934 and 1995 for all public news releases. Statements, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The company, through its management, makes forward-looking public statements concerning its expected future operations, performance and other developments. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates reflecting the company's best judgment based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that other factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements. It is impossible to identify all such factors. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the company include, but are not limited to, government regulation; managing and maintaining growth; the effect of adverse publicity; litigation; competition; and other factors which may be identified from time to time in the company's public announcements.
Contact:
RushNet, Inc.
Robert Corr
Phone: 708-389-6625
Website: www.enjoytherush.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: RushNet, Inc.
Well, we lost our .009 support. : ( eom
Trainz, that would seem to be a prudent solution. Too bad all the CEO's apparently don't see it.
Firefly Energy, Inc. Earns the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Award for Its Disruptive Battery Technologies
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan selected
Firefly Energy, Inc. as the recipient of its 2006 Technology Innovation
Award in the field of advanced lead acid battery technologies for
developing an innovative graphite foam lead acid battery that could cause
disruptive changes in the market.
Each year, this is presented to a company that has carried out new
research which has resulted in innovations that have or are expected to
bring significant contributions to the industry in terms of adoption,
change and competitive posture. It recognizes the quality and depth of a
company's research and development program as well as the vision and
risk-taking that enabled it to undertake such an endeavor.
The lead acid cell, a technology born in the 1850s, is reliable, safe
and inexpensive. It can also handle large surges in current, which makes it
attractive to the world's automobile manufacturers. On the flip side, the
lead acid cell realizes very little of its theoretical power density and
has a relatively short battery life.
"While somewhat newer battery technologies like Lithium Ion and Nickel
Metal Hydride offer alternatives to traditional lead acid cells, they have
their own set of issues including higher costs," says Frost & Sullivan
Research Analyst Sivam Sabesan. "Even though these advanced batteries have
certain features that improve upon the traditional lead acid cell, they
cannot match all its features and consequently, innovators such as Firefly
Energy believe they can improve the lead acid cell to match lithium ion and
the nickel metal hydrides."
The approach used by Firefly Energy, a spin-out of Caterpillar, is
radical but simple. The company's new battery removes past obstacles such
as heavy weight, extensive corrosion and sulfating positive and negative
lead metal grids by substituting them with carbon-graphite foam, increasing
the surface area, to enhance the chemistry taking place. The result is a
battery that can rival the advanced chemistries in performance, take
advantage of an existing manufacturing base and address environmental
concerns through the removal of one-half to two-thirds of the lead content.
By "taking the lead out" and replacing the plates with carbon foam, it
is possible to obtain longer battery life while enhancing the battery's
desirable characteristics, particularly in terms of fast discharge and
recharge conditions. Additionally, by replacing most of the lead with a
much lighter material, Firefly has drastically lowered the specific weight
of the battery, which can help by either increasing output from the same
weight or in creating a smaller package but with normal power output.
Firefly's battery runs cooler than normal lead acid cells, giving it
longer life and a significant stealth advantage in military applications,
particularly in desert environments. On the commercial side too, there is
significant potential. With a large number of automobiles and trucks in
America running on short-lived batteries, manufacturers that can deliver a
cost-effective yet better battery technology stand to gain the most.
"Apart from these, there are markets for hybrid and electric vehicles
that also require high performance batteries," notes Sabesan. "And while
Firefly is initially looking to focus on select commercial and military
markets, it is reasonable to expect that this novel technology will find
equally viable markets elsewhere if the company should choose to enter
them, given that the overall size of the worldwide lead acid market is over
$16 billion per year in sales."
Frost & Sullivan recognizes Firefly Energy's development of a new class
of lead acid cells that can significantly impact the market, and
acknowledges the company's efforts with the prestigious Award for
Technology Innovation of the Year.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-02-2006/0004352127&...
Frost & Sullivan Honors Axion's Innovative e3 Supercell Technology Which Promises to Revitalize the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Market
Tuesday February 6, 7:45 am ET
PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan has selected Axion Power International (OTC Pink Sheets: AXPW - News) as the recipient of the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Award for North America in the field of lead acid batteries for developing an innovative lead-acid-carbon battery- supercapacitor hybrid that could cause disruptive changes in the market.
Frost & Sullivan monitors innovation in the lead acid battery industry and presents this Award to companies like Axion that introduce new technologies that have made or are expected to make major contributions to the industry in terms of adoption, change and competitive posture. The award recognizes the quality and depth of Axion's research and development program as well as the vision and risk-taking that enabled it to undertake such an endeavor.
The lead acid battery, a technology introduced in the 1850s, is ubiquitous, reliable, safe and inexpensive. It can be manufactured almost anywhere in the world with modest investments for facilities, equipment and employee training. Lead-acid batteries have earned a dominant position in the $30 billion battery industry for three reasons: simplicity, performance and price.
Despite their proven strengths, lead-acid batteries require hours to charge, can only deliver a small percentage of their stored energy and have relatively short cycle-lives because each charge/discharge cycle results in irreversible internal chemical changes.
Axion uses carbon electrode assemblies to replace the lead-based negative electrodes found in conventional lead-acid batteries. The result is the e3 Supercell; a low cost battery-supercapacitor hybrid that uses the same cases, materials, internal components and manufacturing equipment as conventional lead-acid batteries; offers faster recharge rates, higher power output and longer cycle-life; and can be manufactured in thousands of existing plants around the world.
The e3 Supercell has the potential to revitalize the lead-acid battery industry by breathing new life into an established technology that was not well-suited to the requirements of important new applications like hybrid electric vehicles and renewable power.
"In addition to demonstrating its innovative spirit by developing an important technology, Axion is implementing a platform technology business model that will leverage the manufacturing and distribution capacities of current industry leaders while giving those manufacturers the ability to quickly introduce new products for use in emerging markets," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst, Vijay Shankar Murthy. "By manufacturing carbon electrode assemblies that can be used as plug and play replacements for the lead based negative electrodes used by other battery manufacturers, Axion can also rapidly expand its production capacity at minimal cost."
Frost & Sullivan Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Frost & Sullivan recognizes Axion's development of the e3 Supercell, a new class of battery-supercapacitor hybrid that represents a potentially disruptive development in the lead-acid battery market.
OT - Isn't that how it's spelled? lol eom
I believe they are sells and probably some even from the Company. As some have pointed out, the Company needs money at least for the Garden deal now that Lynch is apparently out of the picture. As for the .009 bid holding up, it's not just MM's providing a "market" (providing the ability for investors to buy and sell), you also have to consider the investors themselves. Some may desire to buy millions of shares at a given price which would hold up the bid there, while others may be willing to sell millions at a given price thus providing resistance to upward movement. Level II quotes don't reflect the true depth either.
A little more on Axion Power ...
Axion's battery is a lead acid battery but with some modifications.
Their negative plates are a little different.
In their own words,
"Like a lead-acid battery, a typical e3 Supercell battery consists of a series of cells. Within the individual cells, however, our construction is different. Instead of using alloy grids filled with sponge lead paste, e3 Supercells use five-layer electrode assemblies that consist of a carbon electrode, a corrosion barrier, a current collector, a second corrosion barrier and a second carbon electrode. These negative electrode assemblies are then sandwiched together with standard positive electrodes and separators and stacked vertically in each cell, which
Page 40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
are in turn filled with electrolyte, sealed and connected in series to the other cells. The resulting device is effectively half lead-acid battery and half supercapacitor. It does not have all the characteristics of either technology, but we believe it offers a highly desirable balance between energy and power coupled with a much longer cycle life. "
Now notice their need for a better positive plate:
"Our best performing laboratory prototypes have demonstrated the ability to withstand up to 1,600 cycles at 90% depth of discharge. Therefore, we believe the current performance of our e3 Supercell technology is sufficient to earn a prominent position in the battery industry. While there is no assurance that we will be successful, our goal is to eventually produce commercial e3 Supercell batteries that can withstand from 3,500 to 4,000 cycles, which is the equivalent of a 10-year useful life in a daily cycling environment. To attain this goal we will need to develop positive electrodes that are more resistant to grid corrosion and mass shedding. We are currently evaluating a variety of potential solutions including corrosion resistant alloys and coatings. "
"Our business
Our e3 Supercell batteries sacrifice energy density for higher power output and faster recharge rates. While e3 Supercell batteries do not offer as much raw energy storage capacity as conventional lead-acid batteries, the unique construction of e3 Supercells reduces sulfation, grid corrosion and electrolyte loss. The end result is a robust, maintenance free, battery-supercapacitor hybrid that, depending on the energy, power and cycling requirements of a particular application, will use from 30% to 70% less lead and offer several performance advantages, including:
· Significantly longer cycle life;
· Significantly higher power; and
· Significantly faster recharge rates;
We have been testing laboratory prototype e3 Supercell batteries since April 2004. Our test protocol requires a complete charge-discharge cycle every 7 hours to a 90% depth of discharge. During testing, our best performing laboratory prototype e3 Supercell batteries withstood 1,600 cycles before failure. In comparison, lead-acid batteries designed for deep discharge applications can only withstand 300 to 500 cycles under similar conditions. "
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1028153/000102815306000005/posam_1.htm
With the addition of PWTC's technology as a positive plate, which improves "energy density" and cycle life not to mention "power density" and a faster recharge rate as well, over standard lead acid positive plates (which Axion is currently using), it should greatly improve Axion's capabilities.
I think RSHN's situation is a little like the chicken or the egg quandry. They have to ramp up production, distribution and marketing in harmony with possible contracts and demand. Hard to do that balancing act on a shoestring budget.
OT - You got that right! You should see some of the Chicago newspaper headlines. lol
Chicago Tribune
"Gunslinger Grossman shoots his team in foot"
Congratulations klh. Colts played great. eom
I received my Special Meeting notification ...
POWER TECHNOLOGY, INC. Special Meeting
PROXYVOTE.COM
You elected to receive shareholder communications and submit voting
instructions via the Internet. This e-mail notification contains
information specific to your holding in the security identified below.
Please read the instructions carefully before proceeding.
This is a NOTIFICATION of the:
2007 POWER TECHNOLOGY, INC. Special Meeting of Stockholders
MEETING DATE: February 22, 2007
For Holders as of: January 24, 2007
CUSIP NUMBER: 73931C104
Thanks Alopex! eom
Peak Lithium? Part 2
In part one of our dialog on the world's lithium resources and its potential impact on the future mass production of hundreds of millions of large capacity electric car batteries that may someday help power the Chevy Volt or Tesla "Whitebird" electric sedan, William Tahil asked two simple questions: Where is lithium found and how much is there? The answers to those questions are surprising and disconcerting.
As for the where, it turns out that the vast majority of the world's easily extractable lithium metals, in the form of lithium carbonate, is found in only two places on the planet: the Altiplano region that encompasses Chile (the world's largest producer), Argentina and Bolivia. A second similarly remote resource is being developed in Tibet.
In part two, we big up the dialog by asking Tahil how much lithium metal is known in the world. Based on USGS and other sources, he estimates total reserves of 58 million metric tons of lithium carbonate. This translates into some 11 million metric tons of lithium metal.
PHOTO CAPTION: Evo Morales (left) is the newly elected president of Bolivia, named after the 19th century liberator Simon Bolivar, portrayed in the background. With Morales, is Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, whose "Bolivarian Revolution" of social reform is steadily making political inroads across South America, reforms that include nationalization of vital resource industries, which someday may include the continent's reserves of lithium carbonate.
"This is the total amount that you might reasonable expect to get at possibly at some point in the future," he said.
This doesn't include what Tahil refers to as "nebulus" resources like lithium dissolved in the world's oceans, for which there is no practical and economically viable means to extract, though Saga University in Japan has been exploring this possibility.
"Of that 68 million, to give you an idea of how much you might actually expect to get out, which is then what you call your reserves, in this salt lake in the Atacama Desert, which is, if you like, the Ghawar field of the lithium world, they are getting a recovery factor of 42 percent. All the other salt lakes in the world have a lower concentration than the Atacama."
This means there is less lithium per volume of water, so competitors have to process more water, explained Tahil, adding that there is also the issue of the lithium-to-magnesium ratio. The more magnesium, the harder it is to extract the lithium.
Tahil estimated, optimistically, that the recovery rate could be accelerated to 50 percent of the reserves of lithium carbonate, which equates to 29 million metric tons. By his calculations, it would take 200,000 tons to produce the necessary batteries to equip 17 million new cars and trucks that are sold in the U.S. every year.
"You're getting on (to using) one percent of the recoverable lithium carbonate per year.
"If you're looking at global car production of 60 million plug-in hybrids and you give them a reasonable battery, you can be easily looking at a million tons of lithium carbonate being needed," he said, adding that this doesn't include the growing demand in China for motor vehicles.
"That's three percent (a year) of what is realistically recoverable."
On the charge that he's being over pessimistic, Tahil responded that he's being conservative, "yes, perhaps, certainly realistic." He asked if GM or other carmakers will be wanting to commit to a material with that kind of depletion rate. Tahil's paper doesn't take into account any future recycling and reprocessing technologies that could someday recover lithium for reuse.
Turning to the vast but as yet untapped Salar de Uyuni and Salar de Coipasa salt pans of Southwestern Bolivia, Tahil explained that because of recent changes in Bolivian government policy, it may be difficult for outsiders to develop this resource, which holds as much as 50 percent of the world's known lithium carbonate reserves.
"It's concentration is very low compared to the Atacama," he said. "It's about a fifth and its got a much worse magnesium-to-lithium ratio. So, it's going to be a lot more work, a lot more costly to get the lithium out."
Besides strained political relations with the United States, in part because of America's past support for right-wing huentas, Bolivia has nationalized its oil and gas industry and is likely to impose stiff royalty demands on any non-Bolivian entity wishing to develop the Salar de Uyuni.
In addition to a much stricter financial regime, Tahil also believes that Chile, Bolivia and Argentina will also require tougher environmental oversight, pointing out that the salt pans aren't barren wastes, but fragile and interesting ecosystems, though it could be argued that hasn't prevented the wholesale destruction of the Amazon rain forest on the eastern side of the Andes in Brazil in the name of profits.
Still, Tahil envisions that someday the rare and beautiful pink flamingos that inhabit the Salars of Bolivia could become environmental symbols employed to prevent the haphazard and careless development of the region's salt pans. He also noted that some 50,000 tourists annual visit the region bringing with them important revenue.
On the opposite side of the globe in faraway Tibet, the Chinese have opened a 35,000 ton lithium processing facility that will, in time, make them the largest lithium producer on the planet, passing Chile's SQM, at least for the moment.
"This has happened without much of murmur anywhere else in the world."
Tahil pointed out that the company running the lithium carbonate facility is also China's largest manufacturer of lithium cobalt cathodes for batteries. This will make the Chinese independent of lithium imports. He sees those lithium batteries ultimately showing up in Chinese-made electric cars, which may end up staying in the country to meet their own internal demand.
Finding the Fly in the Ointment
Mister Tahil said that he wasn't entirely surprised to "find the fly in the ointment" as he began pulling the numbers together "given all the other roadblocks the electric car has had placed in its path during the 20th century."
"I could see in just five years time that the industry could grind to a halt; and the car manufacturers might say, 'well we tried to build plug-in hybrids, but there isn't enough lithium, so production will have to be greatly scaled back. So, we'll have to wait for lithium production to build up, and it'll be 'Who Killed the Electric Car?" all over again."
He is also concerned that the "lithium ion [political] juggernaut" will simply get out of control, building lots of public momentum only to crash into the reality of limited availability a few years out.
"What we need is integrated strategic planning to plan a global strategy for transition to oil independence," he stated, "where we look at what are all the technologies that are available to provide motive transport as oil production falls.
"So my reaction was those who are dedicating their lives to getting real EVs onto the market need to look long and hard and realistically at the facts and what their implications are, and not just ignore the other battery technologies that have complementary strengths, which could potentially allow us to progress and achieve what we want much more quickly and in parallel."
He expressed his concern that lithium has become "the fashionable thing at the moment", being adapted from the consumer electronics market to electric cars without a thorough analysis of its sustainability.
If Not Lithium, What Then?
Meridian International Research researched the various battery technologies for electric vehicles in 2005 and of all the chemistries it analyzed, sodium nickel chloride and zinc air stood out, Tahil said. The first option, sodium nickel chloride was developed in the 1980s and is known as the ZEBRA battery. He characterizes it as relatively cheap and proven technology with a potential cost in mass production of $150/kWh compared to $350/kWh for lithium ion.
"It has half to a third the nickel content of nickel metal hydride. It has high cycle life. It can be recycled for the stainless steel industry by simply melting it down... just through it into a smelter... use for making stainless steel."
The ZEBRA-class battery also doesn't require the same level of thermal-runaway protection that lithium does. "The sodium nickel chloride is fail-safe in overcharge and over-discharge. It tolerates cell failures, so that performance degrades, but there is no safety issue, which there still is with lithium ion.
"And the headline figure is, of course, with sodium nickel chloride is you have 120Wh/kg in a finished battery pack with its control electronics today, in a finished package, off-the-shelf. The ion phosphate and lithium manganate cathodes are still only at 80 to 9 watt hours per kilo just at cell level and less when you add on the [control] electronics."
Tahil observed that in 1998 Mercedes was about to launch an A-Class sedan powered by the ZEBRA battery (which still performs equal to and better than the fuel cell version) when the program was killed as Daimler merged with Chrysler. In place of the ZEBRA A-Class electric car, Chrysler built a couple hundred EPIC electric mini-van for the California MOU period in the late 90's and early 2000 period, then killed the program when the courts ruled again the state.
"If you took the A-Class today with the battery... improvements since then you'd have a car with a180-mile all-electric range."
Tahil agreed that while nickel is the most expensive part of the battery, it is a metal that is far less constrained than lithium. "It's a major industrial metal that is mined all over the world. You're talking an order of magnitude (1000x) more availability of nickel than lithium."
The other standout chemistry in his view is zinc-air, which also goes back several decades in development.
"The great attraction of zinc-air is very high energy density... with an energy density of 400 kWh/kg" as a primary battery. It is this chemistry that powers hearing aid batteries. He pointed out that is four-times the energy density of the best lithium ion batteries available. Zinc also happens to be "extremely cheap and extremely abundant."
"It is the fourth most abundantly produced metal in the world, after iron, aluminum and copper."
While there may be 30 million tons of recoverable lithium carbonate in the world, there is an estimated 220 million tons of zinc..."and far more than that accessible. So ten times as much."
He estimates current worldwide production of zinc at 9 million tons annually.
"If you were to equip the 1 billion cars in the world today with a small zinc-air battery, it would take nine months of global zinc production."
Comparatively, Tahil calculates in his white paper that it would take 75 years to accomplish the same goal at present lithium production rates. He thinks that carmakers are going to have to carefully weigh their options as to which chemistries offer them the ability build simple, cheap, affordable, dependable electric vehicle batteries before they make any long-range commitments.
He pointed out that the chief drawback of zinc-air is its short cycle life, comparable to a conventional lead-acid battery at upwards of 500 cycles. "This is an area where work needs to be done. There are some companies that say them have...solved the technical problems that contribute to [short cycle life]."
"But it's a question of economics and costs, as well," he continued. Because zinc is so cheap and abundant, it might actually make economic sense to have the battery replaced once a year when the car goes in for service. The zinc oxide can be recycled and reprocessed into new batteries. "There is already a well-established zinc recycling industry."
Tahil can be reached for comment at wtahil@meridian-int-res.com or by phone at +33 3 32 42 95 49 in Normandy, France.
The audio for part two is also available at the following URL: http://www.evworld.com/evworld_audio/wtahil_part2.mp3
As a result of this interview, SQM, the world's largest lithium producer in Chile has contacted EV World and wishes to present their side of this question, so we hope to continue the global discussion on this vitally important topic.
http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?page=article&storyid=1182
I'll say that if and when we hit 50 cents or better. lol
At least it wasn't the theory I was contemplating, restructuring more debt with Cornell. : )
I spoke with Mr. Walter on the SB-2 withdrawal. The registration form was required in order for Cornell to sell any of their convertible shares. But since it's been over a year since Cornell has held those shares, a SB-2 isn't required any more by PWTC (thus the withdrawal) and Cornell doesn't have to register them. Cornell is still bound by the contract that they can not sell more than 1% of the OS in any fiscal quarter.
There may be some truth to that. eom
Let's hope!! lol eom
Peak Lithium?
By Bill Moore
Published: 28-Jan-2007
PHOTO CAPTION: Chile's Atacama desert currently produces the largest market share of the world's lithium carbonate, which are processed into the lithium used to make advanced batteries, as well as other products including medicine. The brine lakes of this remote desert region are the lithium equivalent to the Ghawar oil fields in Saudi Arabia.
Part one of exclusive two-part interview with William Tahil, Director of Research for Meridian International Research.
Nature is a capricious benefactress.
She seems to often bless -- or curse, depending on your perspective -- some nations with an over-abundance of mineral wealth, while depriving others. We're all familiar with the pivotal position held by OPEC nations, especially in the Middle East, who sit atop two-thirds of the world's remaining crude oil reserves; and more critically, what that means geopolitically and militarily to everyone.
But in an even stranger twist of fate, most of the world's reserves of lithium carbonate are located in a tiny triangle located high in the Andes Altiplano, a remote, high desert region shared by Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Another rare and remote reserve is located high in the deserts of Tibet, now controlled by China. Smaller and declining reserves are found in Nevada and Australia.
Given this quirk of geography, two immediate questions arise: how much lithium do these resources hold and is it enough to meet future demand for electric car batteries? You are going to be as surprised and disturbed as I was when you learn the answers.
William Tahil lives in Normandy, France within just a few miles of the World War Two invasion beaches that saw so much death and destruction in June of 1944. Now a far more peaceful place with occasionally spotty telecommunications, it nonetheless, gives him access to France's advanced technology industries from automotive to aerospace. In his capacity as the Director of Research for Meridian International Research, he has been following the development of battery technology and electric drive vehicles for years, as well as researching peak oil.
As momentum began to build for the development of electric vehicles powered by lithium batteries, he asked a very basic question that few have bothered to ask: is there enough lithium in the world to build all the batteries the world is likely to need to eventually switch from fossil fuels to electric drive?
Talking to him by transAtlantic telephone, he stressed that he is not out to, in anyway, denigrate electric vehicles and he strongly believes that they are essential to solving the problem of peak oil, which is a resource depletion issue, possibly starting to occur within the next decade, if not sooner.
But lithium metals are also a resource and Tahil wanted to know just how much of it there is in the world that can be affordably extracted. What he discovered will give government and industry pause because the picture is not a pretty one, it turns out.
"The purpose of my paper was not to stir controversy, but it's to say that we need to look not just from a technological point of view at lithium ion battery but from an industrial and economic point of view if we're looking at scaling up lithium ion application from consumer electronics to something like the automotive industry where we're talking about an order of magnitude increase in the application of this technology across the globe.
"We need to take a conservative and realistic assessment of the resource base and the large-scale sustainability of that technology."
Tahil thoughtfully sent a copy of that paper, entitled "The Trouble with Lithium" to EV World. As soon as I read it, I contacted him in France and set up a time to do an interview. You can listen to part one of that 45-minute discussion using either of the two MP3 players at the top of the page. Or you may download it to your computer for playback on your favorite MP3 device.
Tahil began by explaining to me how we get lithium, the lightest of all metals on the periodic chart of elements. Originally, it was mined, milled and refined from a mineral called spodumene. It takes a great deal of effort, caustic materials and energy to extract pure lithium from this mineral. This was the primary source of lithium until the last couple decades. It is still the source from which a small amount of lithium comes. Three countries possess the largest deposits: Canada, Australia, and Zimbabwe, with less deposits located in Brazil, Portugal and Russia.
But back about a decade ago, Chile found that it could extract it far more cheaply from the brine lakes in the Altaplano, its high, dry deserts to the north. It simply pumped brine water into evaporation ponds and let the sun do the work. And because the concentration of lithium, which is six-times that of the brine lakes in Nevada where the process originated in the 1960s, as well as its ratio to magnesium, is the highest in the world, it gradually became the world's leading supplier, though its copper revenues still dwarf its lithium exports, Tahil noted.
Seventy-eight percent of all the lithium carbonate produced in the world comes from Chile and Argentina.
China is just now starting to exploit a series of some 33 brine lakes in and near Tibet, again in high, dry and very remote deserts.
"These will be the main sources in the future, the Andes and China," Tahil contends.
"There are no other sources in the world that will be economically recoverable, and the only other source is Nevada, but that's now in decline after 40 years production.
"We are on the cusp of a revolution," he continued. "We have an automotive industry that has developed over the last 100 years the largest manufacturing industry in the world and we're looking at heading into, committing -- if they do -- wholesale to lithium ion batteries. If they do that, they are going to be relying on a material that isn't really produced yet in anything like the order of magnitude and scale that the automotive industry will use it."
Tahil argues that it simply doesn't make good business sense to commit to a technology pathway were the key resource -- lithium carbonate -- has to be so quickly replaced by far more costly ones, including extracting it from sea water where the concentration of lithium carbonate is 70,000 parts per billion.
He said that when the cheap lithium from Chile came onto the market in the late 1990s, the price dropped 50% and it created the false impression of abundance, and helped spur the growth of the cellphone and laptop computer industry.
"For that scale of industry, where you're talking about a very small battery of maybe 10 watt hours or for a large laptop battery of 100 watt hours, the lithium ion battery is excellent. And there's been the unthinking acceptance that if it's good for the laptop computer, it's good for the electric car without consideration of the scale or magnitude or what happens when we have to increase production by a factor of ten or more to accommodate electric cars."
It was a paper published by the U.S. Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratories in Chicao entitled, "Cost of LIthium Ion Batteries for Vehicles" that piqued Tahill's interest.
"They showed that you need 1.4 kg of lithium carbonate per kilowatt hour of battery. So, that's just the starting point for field calculations; and even if you double that, the energy density in the future, it is still not a pretty picture.
"If you took all the lithium carbonate that we are producing today and put it into small plug-in hybrid battery, an 8 kWh battery (HEV20), you could produce about six million cars, which is one-third of United States sales each year, and ten percent of annual global sales," Tahil said, noting that all current lithium production is currently allocated to other applications.
"So you've got to find new production. There's about 75,000 (metric) tons of lithium carbonate being produced in the world today, and there new deposits coming on stream right now, which by 2010 will raise production to 150,000 tons. So, we're going to have double the lithium carbonate in (three) years time, but that's being driven by demand for consumer electronics where you have at least 20 percent growth rates for laptop computers and mobile phones. Massive demand from the developing world. So, we're going to need more lithium carbonate production on top."
Tahil calculates that in order to give every new car manufactured in America each year an 8 kWh battery comparable to what is in the current batch of Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid conversions, you would need 200,000 tons of lithium carbonate.
"In terms of existing and planned production capacity that exists in the world today, you need to.. [double] that again just to allow the United States to have 8 kWh batteries in its cars. And if you had the new Chevrolet Volt with its 16 kWh battery, you'd need double that again."
END PART 1 -- NEXT TIME: Bolivia, Hugo Chavez and the once-and-future Organization of Lithium Exporting Countries.
I can see why Dayneus is excited about the possible relationship with Axion Power. The more I look at Axion's negative plate assembly mated with Power Tech's positive plate, the more I like it. Looks to be a perfect match. It would give Axion's specific energy a boost and probably increase the specific power, charge time, and cycle life a degree as well. Should prove interesting.
The latest from the last 10Q ...
"We have successfully cast double sided current collectors of RVC to Axion’s specifications and we intend to deposit the lead tin alloy on them in December of 2006 and deliver them to Axion in January of 2007. "
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1066978/000114420406053731/v060928_10qsb.htm
Interesting that the article mentions Firefly as being in the running with the others. Lead Acid technology at that.
Thanks for the article hasher!
Sounds good Dan. Much thanks. eom
Of course I do. I've been following that tech along with many others for a long time. But you obviously missed my point.
Have a good day!
Your repetitious criticisms on PWTC and its technology are on scale with e-y and peep (aka truthteller). You really should try and get a grip on yourself.
OT - The Bears' weakness is their secondary unit. If Peyton has any time at all he will decimate the secondary. The Bears only hope is if they can get to Peyton enough times and if Grossman has a good day. I'm just happy that da Bears are going to da big game. : )