2 May 2016
Recent announcements from major international companies confirm the widespread adoption of lithium ion battery technology in automotive and energy storage applications. This is accelerating and creating increased interest in securing new supplies of lithium.
It has long been rumoured that Apple Inc. plans to enter the electric vehicle (“EV”) market and is actively developing its own product. It is also rumoured that Magna International Inc. will partner with Apple to build EVs in Austria, and is currently working from a “secret” facility in Berlin. Magna’s recent acquisitions of two German automotive supply businesses, including Telemotive AG and their five German plants, is a major step toward improving Magna’s vehicle electronics capacity and European footprint.
Application of lithium ion energy storage technology to utility power (grid) systems is also growing, although some technical challenges remain. Growth potential is enormous, with New York based Lux Research Inc. seeing the energy storage systems market (based on lithium technology) growing from approximately 700 MWh deployed in 2015 to 10,000 MWh (10 GWh) annually by 2025; a cumulative annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 30%. Saudi Arabia has committed to building 9.5 GWh in renewable energy capacity, in all likelihood supported by lithium battery storage, by 2030 at the latest, or approximately 700 MWh a year. Significantly, global aerospace technology giant Lockheed Martin announced recently that it is entering the business toward the integration of lithium ion systems.