it's easy to take pot shots and Tesla (and solar city) and we Australians have a particular penchant for the tall poppy.
but realistically no one has anywhere near the size of their ambition, and they are way out in front on technology. This is not to diminish the effort of VW, but the reason they are going for affordable at one end and unaffordable (porche) at the other end is that they have been forced into those niches. They just don't have the technology to compete with Tesla head on. No one does. The only thing close is what rivian, ford and others have planned for the truck end of the market. But Tesla reveals their play in that market soon too, and may again be three steps ahead...
Tesla is also on the cusp OK making the solar business work, and this will have very strong reinforcing commercial loops with their car and battery business...
so looping back to the topic, I would be very happy to see our wagon hitched to the Tesla train, via LG, umicore, sumitomo or any others. We may even be hitched directly - we know Tesla recognises nickel supply as the constraint on its growth ambition and has told investors they may get into mining (Elon speak).
SK innovation? Clearly also a strong partner, if they bring real $. Without real $, MOUs and conditional offtakes are not worth much. I'm glad ARL has avoided that path.
any comparison to our peers quickly shows how much more vast our nickel resources are, and at much better grade. Our wagon will be hitched to those going hardest on 811 chemistry. Our orebody is perfectly matched.
peers may get funded and succeed, I'm sure at least one or two will for the sheer scale of supply needed.
but I believe the biggest and best partners will gravitate to the biggest and best resource.
and we know that lies with us.
gltah
ARL Price at posting:
56.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)