Mars_2050
15 Mar 2016
Wstreet tours Tesla - loves it Wall Street Tours the Tesla Factory—and Loves What It SeesLots of robots, lots of new capacity, and buzz.March 14, 2016 — BloombergWall Street analysts have been touring Tesla’s massive factory in Fremont, Calif., and they're returning with the same conclusion: Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company is getting ready for something big. In a sign of this enthusiasm, Robert W. Baird & Co. upgraded its Tesla rating on Monday morning following a factory tour. Tesla spent some $1.6 billion on major upgrades last year as it prepares to launch its first attempt at a mass-market car—the Model 3—on March 31.1 The transformation is striking, according to auto analysts at Stifel Financial Corp., Credit Suisse Group AG, and Baird. The firms are telling investors that Tesla is learning from the mistakes that delayed its previous launches and is on track to make the shift from producing tens of thousands of $80,000 cars to hundreds of thousands of $35,000 cars—assuming the Model 3 proves a success with drivers.2Here are some of the changes the analysts witnessed on Teslas factory floor and in discussions with Tesla's new chief financial officer, Jason Wheeler. 'Stunning Progress'Last week, Stifel analysts returned from their fourth visit in four years to Tesla’s flagship factory in Fremont. “In roughly one year since our last visit,” wrote analyst James Albertine, “the progress witnessed is truly stunning." Tesla shares have jumped 45 percent in the past month as Musk, the chief executive, sought to reassure investors that the company is still on track after the challenging and much-delayed launch of the Model X luxury SUV. New Aluminum Stamping PressStifel and Credit Suisse both noted Tesla's new aluminum stamping press, which Credit Suisse's Galves says has 10 to 20 times the output of Tesla's older machine. The bodies of the Model S and Model X are both made of aluminum, which costs twice as much as steel but weighs less. Tesla hasn't yet disclosed the composition of the Model 3. Keeping the weight down on electric vehicles helps achieve the maximum range on the battery, but maintaining a balance between cost and performance is crucial for a mass-market plug-in car.Paint ShopTesla has built a new state-of-the-art paint shop that's capable of scaling up to 500,000 cars a year. That happens to be Tesla's production forecast for 2020, a 10-fold increase from last year's sales. If Tesla is to achieve that lofty goal, paint jobs won't be a holdup.Faster Assembly LinesTesla's assembly lines are faster and more automated than those observed during a tour 18 months ago, according to Credit Suisse's Galves. The body assembly line is now rated to produce about 175,000 cars a year, with final assembly capability of more than 100,000 cars. 'Dimensional Design Studio'This new area of the factory is a place where Tesla engineers can "stress test vehicle design features in a controlled environment on site," said Albertine. More Robots "Robotics systems are customized, production processes are revolutionary, and attention-to-detail/supply chain management is improving by the minute," wrote Stifel's Albertine. "We do not believe this production process is one competitors can easily recreate." Tesla's manufacturing skills will help the company reach its target of more than 25 percent gross profit margins on the Model X, according to Baird's Kallo. More Humans Tesla expanded its workforce by 29 percent last year, to 13,058, according to company filings. That's up from fewer than 900 employees in 2010. The workers have been consolidated within the Fremont facility, with "several football-field sized areas spanning the entry to the facility with desks, computers and seemingly invigorated staff," Albertine said. "There was an energy and buzz within the facility that is hard to imagine as an outsider."BatteriesTesla is already shifting battery production work to its massive "giga
Mars_2050
15 Mar 2016
Graphite stocks top the list Graphite Stocks Top the List03:33 GMT[link] S&P/TSX Venture Composite index (INDEXTSI: JX) gained another 2.51 percent last week to hit 576.35 points. The Venture is now up 9.68 percent year-to-date. In the mining sector, it was graphite stocks that fared well last week. Northern Graphite (TSXV: NGC) was the top-gaining stock for the week, followed by Focus Graphite (TSXV: FMS)...
Mars_2050
15 Mar 2016
India opens Battery market India Solar Tender Opens Market for Battery Makers Such as TeslaAnindya Upadhyay - 15 Mar 2016, BloombergIndia plans for the first time to include energy storage as a requirement when a solar project is tendered this month, opening what could become a significant new market to battery makers such as Tesla Motors Inc., Samsung SDI Co. and Panasonic Corp.The state-owned Solar Energy Corp. of India, which is responsible for implementing the government’s green targets, will ask that bidders to include a storage component in 100 megawatts of the 750 megawatts of solar capacity tendered in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, Managing Director Ashvini Kumar said in an interview.The intention of the pilot program is to reduce fluctuations in electricity supply in order to make possible the transfer of clean energy between states. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has set a goal of 175 gigawatts of clean energy by 2022. The storage projects would include two storage projects offering 15 minutes of storage each.Storage is considered a crucial component of India’s green targets. The requirement, if more broadly adopted, has the potential to invigorate the storage market because of India’s outsized ambitions for the industry. It would give manufacturers the scale they need to help bring down costs of battery storage that are holding back wider adoption.“Once renewable capacity is large enough to start becoming a major problem for the grid, storage will come in a big way,” said Anish De, a partner for infrastructure and government services at consulting firm KPMG.Global battery makers are optimistic about the projects they can put together in India.Tesla sees an "exciting market opportunity" that it looks to expand in 2016, the Palo Alto-based company said in its third-quarter shareholder letter last year.A Samsung SDI spokesperson, who asked not to be named citing company policy, said the company "is currently evaluating business opportunities for photovoltaic plus energy storage applications, along with the micro-grid projects in order to supply eco-friendly energy in remote areas."Panasonic PlanPanasonic is preparing suitable products for India, said Hiren Pravin Shah, head of the energy business at the company’s local arm.2020, about 11.3 gigawatts of energy storage will be installed globally, equivalent to less than one percent of the total installed capacity of intermittent renewables, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.Much of the current focus on energy storage is in the U.S., Korea and Japan, said Logan Goldie-Scot, an energy storage analyst at London-based BNEF.“Recent actions in the Indian market suggest that both the government and the private sector are eager to take advantage of recent cost reductions and performance improvements across the space,” Goldie-Scott said.Cost ConcernsThe energy storage market in Australia is forecast to double each year through 2018 as homes turn to the technology amid increasing electricity prices, according to a report last month from the industry researcher IHS Inc.At the same time, the renewable energy industry in India is concerned that the high cost of storage would make projects too expensive to develop, tipping the balance toward fossil fuels.The price paid for solar power in India touched a record low of 4.34 rupees (6 cents) a kilowatt-hour in auctions held in the state of Rajasthan in January, where a total of 420 megawatts of capacity was awarded.“It may be a good experiment but this is not the right time to push for storage in utility-scale projects as it will double the cost of clean energy," said Sunil Jain, chief executive officer of Hero Future Energies Pvt., the clean energy arm of the Hero Group.Cost ConcernsAdding the cost of storage to the current projects would boost the price of energy from photovoltaics to 14 rupees a kilowatt-hour, according to Panasonic’s Shah
Mars_2050
14 Mar 2016
Tesla's triumph hope experience [link]
Mars_2050
11 Mar 2016
Re: Graphite stocks on fire Wantingtoknow...Chris Berry, Graphite Mining Analyst sums it up nicely:The point of this note is not to pick winners or make companies look bad, but rather to point out some of the inexplicable dislocations in the graphite space. How can STGR, a graphite producer, have the lowest market capitalization and enterprise value of its peers? Regardless of the industry, shouldn’t a company generating revenues be more valuable than one that isn’t? A Graphite producer ought to have a higher valuation than aspiring entrants.After all, the proverbial boxes have been ticked
ermitting, sufficient infrastructure, customer base, real producing assets (as opposed to highly speculative land with evidence of graphite), revenue and operating cash flow.Graphite producer Market capStratmin Global.........£4mNon-producing graphite companies, years away from production, not generating any cash!Canada Zenyatta Res..........C54m....£28mMason Graphite.....C$48m...£25mFocus Graphite......C$29m...£15mNorthern Graphite..C$21m...£11mGraphite one..........C$24m...£13mAustralia Mozambi Coal...........A$21m - £11m Kibaran Resources....A$29m - £15mTalga Resources.......A$45m - £24mMagnis Resources...A$118m - £62mSyrah Minerals.........A$972m - £510m!!.Madagascar graphite peerEnergizer Resources......£15mThe gap will close, just a matter of time.It always does...As always DYOR Bass money, JORC, Europe Sales & Production update, new Energy storage deal next IMOGLA
Mars_2050
11 Mar 2016
Not long now jimbobtechstock, LSENot long nowTell me about it...!!! Not just BSM but this "confidential" due diligence "related to graphite based energy storage applications" (rns 4th March), plus
rns 17th Feb):"Sales have continued to increase with new buyers from India placing repeat orders and first shipments to new buyers from Germany and Austria executed.""Product samples have been approved by additional end users in Europe, which clears the first hurdle to further new sales in the months ahead."So whilst the completion of the BSM deal looms, so does opportunity for increased margins through direct sales!I've been on this board too long to say "our time has come" or "I wouldn't like to be out of this over the weekend" because, clearly, the new BOD have only achieved great things in their first 9 months - it might take a couple of months longer for them to prove themselves AWESOME!
wanting_to_know
11 Mar 2016
Re: Graphite stocks on fire Mars2050 compares the assets / production of STGR so very favourably with its rivals.What he fails to do is to account for its huge levels of debt and hence its very low share price !One needs to look at "the Big Picture" for a fair comparison
Dorset 53
11 Mar 2016
Re: Graphite stocks on fire Are they all just bigger? Stratmin just too small to get on any radar?
Mars_2050
10 Mar 2016
Green energy demand BNN Watch TV Online Green energy puts lithium, cobalt and graphite into the spotlight [link]
Mars_2050
09 Mar 2016
Graphite stocks on fire Canadian Graphite stocks flyingGains since FebruaryFocus Graphite +280%Flinders Resources +120%Northern Graphite 52%Graphite one +50%Great Lakes Graphite +40%Zenyatta Resources +30%Mason Graphite +30%
Mars_2050
08 Mar 2016
Electric car boom Battery makers and miners of graphite and cobalt will benefit from growing demand for cleaner vehicle[link]
Mars_2050
06 Mar 2016
Apple, Google, Tesla $270B EV market Apple, Google, Tesla Warring Over $270 Billion SmartCar MarketMarch 3, 2016 Capital Market LaboratoriesA lot of the information we’re about to cover might feel like a surprise. In many ways it is. That’s because our purpose is to provide institutional research to all investors and break the information monopoly held by the top .1%. A TITANIC SHIFTIt’s begun. An immense shift. A fundamental change. It will impact everything: our economy, our environment, our security. We grow so accustomed to the negative influx all around us, when something this massive changes for the good, we almost forget to stop and realize what’s begun. What’s begun is something huge. The change is one of the revolutionary themes, one of the fundamental shifts signaling the arrival of a radically different economy.“2020 [this market] will awaken to a period of critical acceptance.”International Business TimesApple (AAPL), Google (GOOGL), Tesla (TSLA), Ford (F), Nissan (NSANY) and many, many others see the coming change too. Each is racing to control the future of not only transportation, but of a critical blend of enabling technologies that will radically change the world around us. What’s more, we’ve found the surprising company a fraction of their size that may win out over all of them. NEW REALITIESGive a presentation while on the way to work. Take a nap on the way home. Let your roof fuel your car while you sleep. Never again look for a parking spot. Never again pay car insurance. This is the future of transportation rapidly becoming reality. And transportation is only the beginning of this radical shift. All technologies have an adoption curve. They start as novelties for enthusiasts, before becoming useful enough for the most tech savvy “early adopters” to pay top dollar to have them. Most first versions of technologies die here, too expensive, too hard to use, too buggy, not useful enough to become huge successes. This is all part of the technology adoption curve, and it has critical things to tell us about the future: The tiny, two seater golf-cart-like electric cars we remember cringing at over a decade ago are gone. Those over-hyped, early prototypes fell into the “chasm”. Now version 2.0 of the future of the automotive industry has spanned the divide into the mainstream. Everything is about to change. The disruption goes far beyond transportation. A confluence of technologies are making possible what a few years ago was science fiction. The scale of the coming transformation can only be compared to the most revolutionary technologies of the modern era: the combustion engine, the plane, the phone, the computer, the internet. And the stakes are huge. THE UNBELIEVABLE STAKESThe entire automotive market is up for grabs, and it doesn’t stop there. In the US alone, the total sales of vehicles in 2014 was $1.1 trillion dollars (source: thedetroitbureau.com). That doesn’t include Europe, China, or Japan. Put in perspective:“New vehicle revenue alone will surpass the value of new single family homes in the U.S. nearly three times.”TrueCarAlready in 2012 the electric vehicle market alone exceeded $80 billion and is projected to hit greater than $270 billion by 2019: Source: StatistaThe biggest and most successful technology companies in the world are pouring resources into this field. And now the biggest and most established car makers are too – they know that to lose this battle threatens their very existence. To understand the trend, we must understand the players. And once we know the players and the technologies they are creating, we can find the companies who will truly enrich themselves within this trend. APPLE’S THRONE Apple is sitting atop the technology throne, making an almost unfathomable sum from their domination of the devices space. CML Pro will graph the yearly Net Income of the world’s largest companies to show us just how dominant Apple’s cash machine is
Mars_2050
05 Mar 2016
Supply & Demand The Supply and Demand Giga-Risk for Cobalt, Lithium and Graphite in Lithium-Ion Batteries [link]
Dorset 53
04 Mar 2016
Placing Hmm, not wild about the placing price and of course being dilutive to us, on the day I buy a bit more at 2.6p. This particular project was not something I'd heard about. I may stick at this point.
pally66
04 Mar 2016
trading range We need to brake out of this clearly traded range. 2.5 to 3how many more weeks of this???PallyMars keep up the great work
