While the lithium story is a compelling long-term growth story, it is going to be a long time before any significant financial benefits are realized by the company. It's going to be at least 4-5 years before there is any real electric vehicle penetration. Lithium batteries are simply way too expensive and demand is not there. Currently a lithium-ion battery that is sufficient for a plugin or electric vehicle costs roughly $8-12K to produce. It simply is not economical for consumers to pay this much of a premium. Therefore, unless gas prices get back to the levels we saw in 2008, then it simply will not be worth it for the automakers to produce these in bulk. The only way that the cost of these batteries will go down is if there is a major commitment on the part of either the automakers or the lithium producers, which will create volume and scale that will drive down the cost. However, neither will commit to this until there is significant demand in the market, which is years away. Additionally, while these batteries weigh hundreds of pounds, and cost thousands to produce, most people don't even realize that the amount of lithium that actually goes into a lithium-ion battery is minimal...possibly 8-15 lbs at a price of $3 per pound. So think about the fact that a very aggressive estimate of PHEV, HEV penetration by 2015 is roughly 5% (that is aggressive)...compare that to maybe 15 million cars a year, and the amount of lithium is not all that significant.