A fellow NiMh zealot pointed out an article in the October 12, 1998 issue of Barron's "A question of value, is it time to buy nickel?" by Cheryl Strauss Einhorn. She mentions that the price of nickel is down 34% this year to $1.78 per pound. Elsewhere in the article she quotes a pundit who sees prices going as low as $1.50 per pound next year.
This has got to be GREAT for the NiMh business. As the name NiMh implies, the biggest component, by value, in the battery is Nickel. Cheaper nickel ore=cheaper nickel metal hydride batteries. Cheaper NiMh = more EV's. More EV's = bigger, cheaper, Nimh plants. More plants = better royalties for ECD. Better royalties = higher stock price, etc. etc. (Now if I could just get this fog off my crystal ball so I can see when all of this is supposed to happen....)
If prices were around $1500 per kwh, for EV applications, at the beginning of the year, they may be cracking $1000 now on this development alone. Math whizzes can calculate that the 800 AA consumer NiMh cells that make up 1kwh are already below $1000 at the wholesale level. Crank in some production efficiencies, better manufacturing techniques and we are comin' on down the cost curve. |
