Nikkei Financial: What You Haven't Got It Yet?

Online, August 10, 2010 (Newswire.com) - A few days before Tesla Motors initial public offering hit the Nasdaq, Goldman Sachs published an 79-page forecast of the emerging electric vehicle battery market. The investment giant-which also acted as the lead underwriter alongside Nikkei Financial, of Tokyo - for Tesla's IPO made predictions about EVs and the batteries that power them, also supported by industry analyst.

Goldman says that the lithium battery market, which Pike Research recently projected to hit $8 billion a year in sales by 2015, will be worth $74 billion by 2020. In the next few years, Goldman predicts that battery makers will solidify their alliances with the lithium miners, helping to streamline production and drive down costs.

The report also predicts a drop of 40 to 50 percent in battery prices over the next 5 years-a number that is comparable with other projections. To put that in perspective, such a dramatic improvement would cut the price of the Nissan LEAF by as much as $9,000 based on its current $18,000 - $21,000 cost.

Goldman's bullish predictions for falling prices, linked with overall prices for electric cars aren't based entirely on the growth of the all-electric vehicle market-the investment bank sees short term potential in PHEVs like Toyota Prius Plug-in, which is being released next year. Which for the first time marking a a major shift in technology usage by Japanese auto makers - both Toyota and Honda - have committed to converting their full range of hybrids to batteries powered by utilising the latest lithium-ion batteries, a 360 degree u-turn for Toyota and Honda.

David Thomas of Nikkei Financial believes this study comes as good news for electric vehicles and the clean energy sector as a whole and re-affirms Nikkei Financials belief in the development of energy storage, lithium and power storage as the focus of their growth strategy in the clean-tech sector. He was quoted though that this isn't really rocket science, even though it is - we have to convert out transport based economies away from oil, we now know - despite what some of the vested interest might tell us - we now know that the the electrification of our transport network is essential and converting to a smart grid, using storable renewable energy is the key to a clean energy future and immense opportunity for us.