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""There have been sharp technological advances in the auto sector, which requires highly functional copper," Keiichi Kobayashi, corporate senior vp, automotive and electronics material field, copper and high performance material products division, told Metal Bulletin sister title Copper Price Briefing. The growth in the auto market increases demand for the company's highly functional copper products, he said, adding that demand from the electronic devices markets such as mobile phones was good but can fluctuate a lot. The company's product share is comprised of 40% automotive, 40% electronics and 20% infrastructure."

Hydrogen fuel-cell cars have received a great deal of attention over the years as a clean alternative to petroleum-based transportation, producing only water for exhaust. Certainly the technology is known. Demonstration vehicles have been produced by several manufacturers and Honda is starting to roll out a fleet of 200 FCX Clarity fuel-cell cars, available for lease to select customers for US $600 per month. These autos are costing Honda hundreds of thousands of dollars each though, according to Honda's president Takeo Fukui (Wall Street Journal, June 16 2008), and it will take another decade before their cost falls below US $100,000. Although fuel-cell cars remain a long way from providing commercially viable transportation for the vast majority of people, cars are not the only application for fuel cells. Fuel cells are reaching commercial viability sooner in other applications such as portable electronics, including laptops, cell phones, MP3 players and games, aiming to supplement the ability of batteries to power these mobile devices for extended periods of time. There are a number of reasons why fuel cells may prove more competitive in portable electronics than in cars, including the favorable cost, lifetime requirement and easier distribution in this market. One of the companies developing fuel-cell technology for portable electronics is Polyfuel, using its proprietary hydrocarbon membrane technology for direct methanol fuel cells. The cost of power for portable electronics, according to Polyfuel president and CEO Jim Balcom, is up to US $10,000 per watt, compared with US $20-50 for autos, making portable electronics a much more attractive market than cars initially.

GP Autoparts Limited, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed industrial group Gold Peak Industries, announced that it will sell its 50% stake in Shanghai Jinting Automobile Harness Limited to Etern Group for RMB320M (US$50.8M). Shanghai Jinting Automobile Harness Limited produces wiring harnesses for both Chinese and international autos companies. In a statement released by Gold Peak Industries, the company cited increasing competition in the wiring harness sector, as well as the pending expiry of key long term contracts as reasons for the divestment.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported an acceleration in automotive sales and production on both a sequential and y-o-y basis in August. Auto output rose by 4.5% m-o-m and 7.8% y-o-y and sales rose by 8.4% m-o-m and by 8.3% y-o-y in August. The industry's performance in August compared to last year has resulted in an improvement in the year-to-date production figure, which now stands at 12.47M units, up by 5.2% y-o-y. Production of passenger vehicles has outperformed those of commercial vehicles, up by 8.7% y-t-d (reaching 10.0M units) and down by 7.2% y-t-d (reaching 2.5M units), respectively.

According to Tetsu Takahashi, chairman of the Japan Copper & Brass Association, Japanese production of copper and alloy semi-finished products will total 770,000t in 2012, the lowest level since 2009. However, the association is more positive on the prospects for 2013 suggesting that output could expand by 4%, supported by a weaker yen and more accommodative government policies. The association believes that the new government's efforts to reconstruct areas damaged by the 2011 earthquake, as well as the possibility for a rebound in autos exports to China, should lift the demand for Japanese semis in 2013.

Aluminum's growing presence in automotive

"Besides an imbalanced market, renewed U.S. dollar strength could also weigh on copper prices. Additionally, there is also the rising threat of substitution over the long term. Nomura's Jones estimates around 75% of demand could be at "medium or high risk" of substitution." In many instances, copper could be replaced by aluminum, which is markedly cheaper than copper even after adjusting for differences in conductivity. Jones sees air conditioning and auto manufacturing as key areas where the compelling economics of aluminum pose a major threat to copper demand."

"Conflict mining remains an important issue, and one we are beginning to see governments step in to address in different ways. With the global economy as interconnected as ever, it's important to note that many of the products and technologies we use in our daily lives begin at the same source: mines. With leading companies across industries such as electronics, retail and jewelry, auto manufacturing, lighting aerospace, construction, and other industries relying on these commonly used 3TG metals - tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold - implementing effective regulation is essential in order to further advance support to eliminate or reduce human rights violation."

If you watch The Green Optimistic you already know that we covered air cars in previous posts, both MDI CAT's and the Angelo DiPietro air motor. The first time we wrote about these inventions was about 6 months ago. Now, MDI and Angelo DiPietro have contracts all over the world with auto makers to sell them the compressed air technology

August 12, 2008 What will the electric carInnovation-At-Big-Companies Dec-07 ownership experience be like? NissanNissan Motors has given us a glimpse of what early adopters are letting themselves in for - rather than bundling expensive, consumable battery packs into the price of the car, Nissan plans to sell its 2010 mass-market battery-electric car for around the same price as a standard petrol car, and lease the battery pack to the buyer on a monthly fee. And the battery lease plus electricity charges should still end up cheaper than a petrol bill. Don't worry, it won't look anything like the test vehicle pictured! In an encouraging auto industry trend, more and more major players are committing to launching hybrid, hydrogenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen and battery-electric carsElectric car in the next few years. Nissan is the latest to outline its plans, which will include a production-model lithium-ion plug-in electric car by 2010. There's also a clever high-tech hybrid on the way, and Nissan has also announced a cheaper way of building a high-power density hydrogen fuelGM-Coskata-Alternative-Fuels cell stack. But it's the imminent battery-electric vehicle (BEV) that offers the most immediate chance for car buyers to get away from gas stationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filling_station and look into green motoring. And while no details have yet been officially released about range, charging time, body shape or power, Nissan has clarified that its first mass-market BEV will use a lithium-ion battery pack from partner AESC - an expensive option, but the cost (and eventual replacement cost) will be spread out over a lease plan.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP: news, chart, profile) ended 0.9% lower to 277.59, with markets missing an upturn in the U.S. when crude-oil prices fell sharply. The metals sector was in full retreat as platinum futures tumbled for a second session amid worries about global auto sales, sparked by the $15.5 billion loss from General Motors, BMW's profit warning and weak July sales in the U.S. Copper futures also fell sharply, and copper miners had a difficult session. Kazakhmys (UK:KAZ: news, chart, profile) shares fell 9.5%, Xstrata (UK:XTA: news, chart, profile) shares fell 5.9% and Boliden (SE:BOL: news, chart, profile) lost 5.4%.

Google's conference this week on plug-in electric vehicles and related federal policy clearly positions the search company's RechargeIT program as an EV incubator for startups, R&D initiatives and policy discussions. Dan Reicher, Google.org's director of climate change and energy initiatives, opened the conference, which was heavily attended by beltway insiders, by announcing that Google would invest in multiple ventures to make wide-scale plug-in electric cars viable.

But the new technologies-which could help consumers cope with these prices-are unlikely to arrive in large numbers in time for the next oil spike. According to the authors of "The Impact of Plug-in Hybrids on U.S. Oil Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," a chapter in the new book Plug-in Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington, published by the Brookings Institution, cars are durable goods that last well over a decade. "The transformation of the light-vehicle fleet to new internal combustion technologies or to hybrid and plug-in hybrid technologies will take decades from the time such vehicles are widely available at competitive prices," according to the authors, Alan Madian, Lisa Walsh and Kim Simpkins, researchers at consulting firm LECG. They believe it could take another decade from now until the new technologies compete on a price basis, and begin the process of replacing current fleets.

The Chinese government said that it would expand an existing subsidy program to encourage the purchase of new vehicles and home appliances, thereby boosting domestic spending. China will now allocate 5B yuan ($733M) for owners of light trucks and passenger vans who upgrade to new models. It also plans to spend 2B yuan ($293M) to fund discounts of new purchases of home appliances when customers turn in old goods, which will possibly give support to domestic copper demand. The plan will apply to almost all household appliances, including air-conditioners, television sets, refrigerators, washing machines and computers. Exports of these have been weak and the plan will help local producers to de-stock more quickly.