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[ged5] 28/9/2019 15:30

I just received this in an email from EON. A long article so my apologies.

The growing availability, usage and affordability of electric vehicles mean we all need to think differently about owning and driving a car. But many misconceptions exist, so we lift the bonnet on some of the main EV myths and take a look underneath...

Electric cars don't go that far

How far you can travel on a full charge depends on a number of factors. The first is the size of the battery, which is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). The larger the number, the bigger the battery, the longer the range.

Many EVs are being supplied with around 40kWh batteries, which translate to around 160-170 miles. Cars with 64kWh batteries can theoretically cover over 250 miles, while Teslas with 100 kWh batteries can go over 300 miles. However, the faster you go (over about 55-60mph), the lower the range will be.

But as new EV models come on to the market, with longer ranges, the 'range anxiety' that prevents many drivers from buying an electric car will soon be a thing of the past.

EVs cost more to run than petrol/diesel cars

EV charging is much cheaper than buying fuel – especially if you use a home charger, which costs around 12-15p per kWh of electricity. For example, a Volkswagen e-Golf with a 35.8kWh battery will cost about £4.30 to charge - although tariffs that allow EV drivers to charge overnight at a cheaper rate are also available, along with special tariffs such as our Fix and Drive tariff. Public chargers cost around 30p per kWh, so charging the e-Golf will mean paying around £10.74.

The e-Golf has a real-world 120-mile range, so the cost per mile is 3.5p (home) or 9p (public). The equivalent 1.5-litre petrol Golf has a 500-mile range and costs at least 14p per mile (depending on what mpg you get out of your car), while even a diesel will be 11p a mile if you're a frugal driver.

Home chargers take a long time to charge

How long it takes to charge your car at home depends on a car's battery capacity (expressed in kilowatt hours, or kWh), plus the speed of your charger.

A 3.7kW charger will charge a Volkswagen e-Golf in around 9 hours and 40 minutes, while a Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid will take just two hour s and 48 minutes.

If you have a faster 7kW charger, such as one of our home chargers, a Hyundai Kona (with a bigger 64kWh battery) takes just over nine hours. A plug-in hybrid Kia Niro, with an 8.9kWh battery, will take just under an hour-and-a-quarter to charge.

There aren't enough public chargers

The number of public chargers is increasing rapidly. As of early August 2019, there are 14,653 devices, across 9,236 locations. In the last 30 days, 365 new devices have gone online. More are being added every week. And they’re getting quicker to use too – our first ultra-fast charging station in the UK opened recently in Birmingham and can add around 100 miles to an EV battery’s range in just ten minutes.

With 246,700 miles of road, in the UK, you should find a charging device every 16.8 miles, on average.

EVs cost more to repair and maintain

EVs have a battery pack and an electric motor (sometimes two). That's it. No complex internal combustion engine with all its moving parts.

There's less to go wrong with an EV, so it's cheaper to repair and maintain. There are no oil or air filters to change; no engine oil that needs to be topped up and changed; no head gaskets to blow; and no cam belts to be replaced. Most of the mechanical parts that need maintaining and servicing just aren't there.

This also makes used EVs a good buy, as there are fewer reliability issues to consider. A recent survey found that the Nissan Leaf had 99.7% rating, with only bodywork issues blotting its copybook.

The batteries don't last long

Mainstream electric cars have been around for almost a decade, so we're starting to see how batteries are performing after a few years of regular use.

The feedback is positive, with reports suggesting that even taxis that have gone way beyond the eight-year/100,000-mile mark (which is all that manufacturer battery warranties cover), there's little loss of battery life.

EVs aren't really that much greener

EVs have no tailpipe emissions, so no carbon dioxide (CO2) to contribute to global warming and no other emissions such as NOx (nitrogen oxides) and particulate material that damage air quality.

EVs aren't perfect – the metals used to make batteries that have to be mined, for example – but the overall environmental damage of an electric car compared to one with a combustion engine, from manufacture to the end of its life, is far, far less.

Electric cars are now a much cleaner option to conventional petrol and diesel cars and, as battery technology improves and more models are available to buy, they are now a realistic option for car buyers.

Home charging is also now so cheap and convenient, making owning an EV a no-brainer.

Want more information before taking the leap? Read more of our blog posts on electric vehicles.

[ged5] 28/9/2019 09:55

I've only listened to the first one, Paleje. Is the Q&A section in one of the others?

Busraker in the March presentation on page 12 there is a whole page "A Proven Model".

It's all about Altura. The next 2 pages give comparisons to several lithium miners.

It's not on the website any more but I have a copy if you want.

I'm sure he's mentioned the similarity in at least one interview but I haven't located them yet.

ps I got fed up of the asylum, Paleje. Nobody seems to read truthful posts over there and life's too short for idiotic arguments.

[paleje] 27/9/2019 15:16

That was a good listen on the European Battery Alliance meeting Ged, I liked their take on home-grown resource, ie within Europe, rather than third world countries where social factors, child labour and pollution are hardly subject to proper control.

And in the Q&A one of them said understandable people don't like the idea of a mine on their doorstep but the alternative is unacceptable and all efforts are made to appease concerned residents.

Nice to see some blue on here today.

[ged5] 27/9/2019 12:59

Thanks for your reply.

Yes he's referred to them several times I'll see if I can locate the references (nothing else to do it's pouring down here) unless someone else does it first.

A good buy George. Well done!

[busraker1] 27/9/2019 12:36

Ged, thanks for comments and link. I'm comfortable enough that SAV will produce 6%+ battery grade Li2O and that they are spending time learning lessons from other miners about improving recovery rates by getting the engineering design of the mine right in the first place, particularly as they have 5 ore bodies to put through it, each with subtly varying mineralogy etc. I'm comfortable the iron content looks to be low, but I'm not yet clear on the effect other impurities may have on the quality i.e. mica and many lithium mining companies are sketchy on sharing their met test results in too much detail, so you may only find out when it comes to selling to the market.

Altura Mining looks a very good company with high quality spod though their first year of mining has been a battle to get things running well and are still trying to get recovery rates from low 60's up to the DFS target of 80%. I do hope SAV's spodumene is as good quality as theirs and as well reputed in the market etc.

Did you say David Archer often refers to Altura as something he'd like to replicate with SAV (whilst learning second mover lessons)? Good if so...:-)

[fqr714bhp] 27/9/2019 10:18

Offer 2.199p
Bid 2.12p

Lets see how long that lasts???

[ukgeorge] 27/9/2019 09:24

I just paid 2.1p for 100k wanted more but couldn't online

[fqr714bhp] 27/9/2019 09:05

OH look we are up 2.5% today?????????????????????

[ged5] 27/9/2019 08:45

SAV's tweet today:-

4th high level meeting of the European Battery Alliance - video

[jotoha2] 26/9/2019 20:05

Just wait until you need some major help from the NHS , then you will appreciate the service , what would you suggest , maybe we should all pay and the money saved can all go companies like this , so the BOD can pay themselves Millions and go bust within 5 years!

The NHS is not perfect , but it works .

[busraker1] 26/9/2019 15:41

Thanks for your post Ged.

Yes, the quality of the spodumene concentrate being produced by some Aussie mines is definitely another issue. They aren't meeting the stringent requirements for good quality battery grade produce always and may be blaming the issue on the low lithium price or low hydroxide plant capacity in China to hide the fact that they are not able to sell their product and it is piling up in their inventory.

What does that say about the extended met tests that SAV are being forced to undertake do you think??

We still don't know how good the product will prove to be, which is why these met tests are very important of course.

[fqr714bhp] 26/9/2019 14:43

BUY AT 2.07P
SELL AT 1.98P

All those 2p trades are all from the 2p placing.

[ged5] 26/9/2019 12:51

Paleje, thanks for your considered reply. Perhaps a compromise would be to defer his salary (at least a major part of it) until we have revenue and forego any bonus including any past bonus.

Thanks for your article and your thoughts, busraker.

I think there are 2 ways of interpreting "The processing challenges".
The link you provided and your comments are very relevant to lack of confidence in lithium miners/explorers.

The other view is that we have been constantly compared to Altura mining.

This is what they had to say:-

Altura notes that negative news emanating from some specific lithium companies, and general market weakness, appears to be having a severe impact on all companies across the lithium sector, irrespective of the underlying fundamentals of individual companies.

However, Altura is currently experiencing strong production and sales performance, as advised in the ASX announcement on 20 August 2019. Quarterly sales are currently at 19,000 dmt and production is forecast to reach 45,000 wmt by the end of September.

There have been regular shipments of spodumene concentrate, and the next cargo to offtake partner Lionergy will be dispatched next month. Altura continues to be able to sell the concentrate produced and maintain optimal inventory levels.

The demand for Altura spodumene remains strong with customers citing the exceptional quality of the Company’s product. Marketing initiatives in China have also resulted in ongoing sales enquiries.



PS I don't hold shares in Altura.

[busraker1] 26/9/2019 12:14

The processing challenges at other lithium mines is to do with the recovery rates of Li20, which in the DFS can be stated to be as high as 75% or 80% but in reality the functioning mine is only achieving 55% to 70% for example. This affects the project economics, profitability, cashflow etc.

The people who finance these mines will have very stringent requirements and be dictating to SAV what they must achieve in the DFS before they will fund it. First, it seems, they wanted the mine to have a longer life, which meant delineating further resource. They also will now be very twitchy about the Aussie mine problems and will be requiring SAV to learn from that and not make the same mistakes, which means more refined processing design from the engineers and more met tests to make sure that the different orebodies and their characteristics will all achieve high recovery rates through whatever process route is chosen, and not fall down to the lower 55% to 70% rates. It seems the mine also needs to be big enough to give the financers of a hydroxide plant the confidence to go ahead with that also.

Here's a brief Roskill article on it -

[paleje] 26/9/2019 12:12

Ged 2364,

Yes he should consider the potential pitfalls it's all part of his job but seemingly hasn't and certainly hasn't been transparent in a timeous manner when they have become apparent. I suppose he would argue that he too has been diluted so hurt financially but somehow I think that salary softens the blow a bit.

Not sure he should give it up though bit of a moot point.

I would dearly like to see some auto industry involvement though, at any level, I think the whole EV conundrum is a mess and some clear direction and commitment would be very reassuring. Doesn't Buffet say such are the best times to buy:)

[ged5] 26/9/2019 11:26

LOL. But thank you!

[bristol97] 26/9/2019 11:23

I am the voice of reason, and no, you're not wrong.

[ged5] 26/9/2019 11:22

From the July newsletter:-

"In August there will be no newsletter, as there will be no progress on the work done at the mine."

[ged5] 26/9/2019 11:19

Thanks IB! I've gone from the cash position (3.1M) 30th June to that of 16th September (6.8M). 6.8-5=1.8M. 3.1-1.8=1.3. 11 weeks since 30th June. 1.3/11= 118181.82.
The acquisition came on 20th June.

Shouldn't the CEO consider pitfalls along the way. This is the third asset where he hasn't anticipated any problems obtaining a licence. Does he really deserve such handsome rewards? Yes once he delivers but in the meantime do the honourable thing.

Am I wrong? I have been waiting for the voice of reason.