1 - 4 of 13 Posts
And replace it with a battery industry that has its grip on the transportation industry...
Most electric cars run on lithium-ion batteries, and according to Bloomberg, these account for about 40% of the vehicle’s cost (though costs are falling). A 2010 report by the Boston Consulting Group found that 75% of the cost of producing battery packs are volume-dependent, meaning that as production increases, unit costs will drop.
Invest in Panasonic Corporation (PCRFY)...BUT pay attention to CHINA...China doesn’t hide its desire to dominate several high-tech industries, including electric cars. The government encourages the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in multiple ways, and will require 8% of car sales next year to be EVs and hybrids.
China also offers subsidies to battery manufacturers, but these require a minimum 8 GWh installed production capacity in China. Only two Chinese firms, BYD COMPANY LTD ‘H’CNY1 (OTCMKTS:BYDDF) and CATL, qualify...at this time...
This quote in a Financial Times article sounded alarming:
“China’s approach has echoes of the one it took on solar power a decade ago. It dominated the solar industry by lowering costs and driving prices down by 70 per cent and could do the same for batteries, says Gordon Orr, former Asia chairman of McKinsey.”
China, after all, designated solar energy a “strategic emerging industry” in its 12th Five-Year Plan a few years ago, and subsidized domestic production. Chinese producers ramped up production, and may have sold solar panels below cost overseas, a practice known as dumping. This contributed to a drop in solar panel prices, and led to bankruptcy for many solar panel makers in the U.S. and Europe.
Most news is...in one way or another...
1 - 4 of 13 Posts
