Lithium-ion batteries today already have around double the specific energy and energy density than the nickel metal hydride (NiMH) technologies which have dominated the hybrid electric vehicle market.
Lithium-ion specific energy is 150 W h/kg compared to 75 W h/kg for NiMH.
Lithium-ion energy density is 400 W h/L compared to 240 W h/L for NiMH.
No, I’m not forgetting that when it comes to lithium-ion batteries, thermal management is critical. There’s risk of thermal runaway if she gets a bit hot, and cold temperatures aren’t friendly to the performance either with discharge capacity down to 62.6% at -20 degrees C compared to the capacity at 20 degrees C. But these hurdles can and are being overcome with many dollars being injected into research with some clever and appropriate ideas being produced by the scientific community already.
The expanse of money injected into scientific analysis and experimentation around Lithium-ion batteries is very significant with many laboratories working to increase energy density by modifying existing Lithium-ion cell chemistries, or creating new members of the Lithium-ion battery family. We have Lithium cobalt oxide, Lithium nickel oxide, Lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide, Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, Lithium manganese spinel and Lithium titanate. Lithium-sulphur appears to show promise and I look forward to reading some scientific journal articles on the data collected so far.
The key element in all these chemistries remains to be… Lithium… and what is the most commercially popular anode material?... yes Graphite. And what does ADV have in the ground?...both. For ADV to have confirmed a significant proportion of the less common flake graphite rather than the common amorphous version is just perfect for aiming out sights on the pure electric vehicle market. Never forget the myriad of other consumer devices powered by Lithium-ion. The following reference to Pokemon-go may sound funny but the App has many people hooked, it drains your battery like there’s no tomorrow, and so what are the masses doing? Going out and paying $40 to $100 for quality Lithium-ion power-banks that’s what.
Beyond batteries the potential diversity and expanse of future use of graphite is unintelligible. Graphite possesses temperature stability >3600 degrees C, excellent corrosion resistance, good to excellent conduction of heat and electricity, self lubricity etc.
I personally feel very fortunate to be holding shares in ADV at this point in the life of the company. Even more fortunate for the opportunity to purchase additional shares at such a low price before stock price lifts and the recent minor slump becomes an irrelevant tiny divot in the chart.
Most importantly It means a lot to me to reach out to all the workers, the people in ADV getting sh*t done. I work in the field and it’s funny how dabbling in shares still causes me to stupidly lose sight and forget the reality of how the work is achieved. I find myself like the rests of you, impatiently awaiting announcements as if as if activities like drilling and sample analysis might magically happen in a few days. Stupidly feeling down about the price slump when after the future price reflects ADV’s assets and opportunities, the minor slump will be nothing but a silly memory.
I think about the workers in the field on the projects. For some it means long periods away from family at the jobsite, trying to balance getting the job done and going come in the same condition you arrived at work, adhering to policies, procedures and regulations. These guys in the field won’t win any medals for losing a finger in the act of hurriedly drilling. The chemists at the respective contracted laboratory won’t win any medals for losing focus and endowing themselves with an acid burn while hurriedly performing a digestion for a Lithium assay.
So to all the employees of ADV, I would like to say a very sincere thank you for all the work you do for us, yourselves, and your families. I appreciate it immensely. You’re doing great work, be proud of it.
Best Regards to all,
The Ore Chemist.
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