Volkswagen plans to overtake Tesla to take the top spot in the electric vehicle industry * Lithium prices are expected to remain high for longer than expected

[Japan Softbank Corp. successfully trial-produced high-performance lithium-metal battery] Japan's Softbank Corp. and US start-up Enpower Greentech announced on March 15 that the lightweight, high-capacity lithium-metal battery that has been jointly studied has achieved success in long-life trial production.

[Tesla Berlin Super Factory may start producing batteries in 2022] Tesla, like other manufacturers, has won the right of the European Union to provide 2.9 billion euros in subsidies to battery factories. However, Tesla's plan is becoming more and more specific.

[Volkswagen plans to overtake Tesla to become the leader in the electric car industry.] Volkswagen's share price rose the most in more than a decade, and the company held a series of press conferences to set out its plan to replace Tesla as the global leader in electric vehicles; its goal is to sell 1 million electric vehicles this year and to become the leader in the global electric vehicle market by 2025 at the latest. Volkswagen's common stock soared as much as 29% today after the company announced that it would standardize key technologies across its business empire, creating economies of scale that Tesla and other automakers could not match.

[Asahi Kasei battery key materials expand production 20% to seize electric vehicle business opportunities] Japan Asahi Kasei said that it will invest about 30 billion yen to increase production of lithium-ion battery key material separation membrane, the new plant is located in the Rixiang factory in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. It is expected to turn commercial in the first half of 2023, with an annual production capacity of about 350 million square meters. At present, Asahi Kasei has increased production and invested in isolation membranes at Shoushan Manufacturing Institute in Shoushan City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, and American factories in North Carolina. The above production projects are expected to start commercial transfer in the first half of this year, and will introduce production into the new plant in the future. Asahi Kasei's annual production capacity of the isolation membrane will be further increased by 20% to about 1.9 billion square meters.

[Guotai Junan: lithium prices are expected to remain high for longer than expected] Guotai Junan Securities Lithium Industry Development Research and judgment pointed out that the current lithium industry demand cycle is strong, with a compound annual growth rate of 25%. However, due to the mismatch between global supply-side lithium resources and lithium smelting, lithium prices are expected to remain high for longer than expected. In the main department, most of the high-quality lithium resources are in the hands of overseas lithium enterprises, but the efficiency of overseas enterprises' resource development is low and the time is long. Chinese enterprises have unique smelting capacity, but they have less resources. therefore, the pace of Capex release and new production capacity of the global lithium industry in the future will be far behind the demand of the lithium industry.

[Changying Precision: Xiaomi is the company's customer] Changying Precision said on the interactive platform that Xiaomi is a customer of the company, and the company provides Xiaomi with consumer electronics components. The company's products in the field of new energy vehicles include electrical connections, power battery structures, charging gun components and so on.