Banter and General Comments, page-9838

Reading stuff like this gives greater emphasis as to why GXY should be taking their time in working out the best way forward in building SDV. You don't want to be spending time and money building all these major ponds and then bang smack out of nowhere you have competitors producing product faster and cheaper putting you out of the game.

Stuff like this also makes me happy that GXY is diversified between brine and hardrock. Depending on how the future unfolds they have multiple options. Not to mention happy about having cash with all that is going on at the moment.

BTW I have not seen anyone post any satellite images from SDV. Has anyone been looking? If so you could please provide us with an update if they have made progress or not.

In other news, the news recently that Tesla is making real strong progress on starting production in China is something really positive for us to hold on to. If as reported LG Chem is starting to pick up steam in battery production that should see prices change in the final quarter of this year. All just in time before VW starts going hard with production on the ID.3 again something that should start helping change dynamics in the industry. It's also good to see lots of hybrids starting to roll out across many brands next year, another good sign. As the share price has been showing we really are in a holding pattern of no mans land, just waiting for the inevitable to happen. This has been the most boringest period that I can remember for a very long time. Just need to wait for lots of outcomes to happen. Really whatever is happening with the share price is pretty meaningless, its just game playing that will eventually stop when a big event finally pops its head out of nowhere.

Talking about the VW, I read yesterday that the VW ID.4 should be coming to Aus in Australia in 2022 at a price under $40,000. That should make things interesting locally, I think that would raise a few eyebrows of interest. It's just a shame we have to wait and be last all the time!

It also appears that in Australia while we are way way behind, things are still looking positive and we are still heading in the right direction:

According to the new report, State of EVs in Australia 2019, EV sales figures for the first half of the year are 90% higher than for the same period in 2018. The choice of plug-in models available is steadily increasing, from 22 as of August 2019 to an expected 31 by the end of 2020. The availability of public charging infrastructure has increased by over 140% over the last year — the country now has some 1,930 charging stations.

Perhaps most important for the future of Australian EVs, consumer awareness appears to be on the rise. In an EVC survey of 1,939 Australians, 100% of respondents said they were aware of electric vehicles, and 45% said they had done some research into EVs — more than double the 19% who said so in the 2017 survey.

Consumer attitudes towards EV ownership (Source: Electric Vehicle Council)

The number of people currently studying EVs with an intention to buy more than tripled in the last year, jumping from 1.8% in the 2018 report to 6% this year. Survey respondents cited the higher price of electric vehicles and range anxiety as the top barriers to purchase. However, almost half said they would consider buying an EV in the current market, and 70% said they might buy if the purchase price were the same as that of a legacy vehicle.

The report notes that bringing costs down to that level depends on falling battery costs and/or government policy. There is “international evidence that government policy can have an impact on consumer decision-making,” yet Australia offers little support for EV adoption.

The current Coalition federal government, which was returned to power in the recent election, has said it will not release an EV strategy until mid-2020. The party’s campaign in the latest election featured some nonsensical anti-EV tirades — Prime Minister Scott Morrison characterized EVs as a threat to Australians’ outdoorsy way of life.

As is the case in the US, individual Australian states have been more supportive of EV adoption. Although none have introduced financial incentives or targets, they have invested in public charging networks (including the Queensland Electric Superhighway, and the ARENA-backed Chargefox and Evie networks).

Australia has been a laggard in EV uptake — just 2,216 EVs, not including Tesla models, were sold in 2018. However, this is changing. EV sales in the first half of 2019 were 90% higher than the entire number sold in 2018, and all indications are that sales continue to grow.

Tesla Model 3 deliveries began in early September. Although there’s no hard sales figures yet, Tesla delivery staff told techAU that the company is working through “thousands” of orders (via The Driven). Subsequent reports state the number is 2,414, which would “put the Tesla Model 3 in the ranks of the top ten, and maybe even the top five for new car sales in Australia for the month.