Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry Co (Aleees, 立凱電能), a Taiwanese supplier of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material used for electric vehicle batteries, yesterday said sales have risen year-on-year for three consecutive months to hit a record level in the company’s history.
Bade City (八德), Taoyuan County-based Aleees also said sales growth momentum would extend this quarter from last quarter, expecting whole-year sales to pick up steam thanks to positive government policy support in Taiwan and China, the company said in a statement.
“Based on current order visibility, we expect high seasonal demand and better factory utilization continuing through the end of this year,” the company said in the statement. “We are especially positive on the outlook for electric vehicle batteries, power tools and 4G base station-related applications.”
Consolidated sales for last month surged by 109 percent year-on-year to NT$94 million (US$3.08 million), also rising by 16.43 percent from August. That saw the company’s cumulative sales for the first nine months increase by 19.58 percent to NT$541 million from the same period last year.
LFP is a cathode material, but has advantages in power density, safety, high-temperature stability and battery life over other types of cathode materials, the firm said, adding that LFP is a better solution for electric vehicles than other cathode solutions.
Based on the Industrial Technology Research Institute’s tallies, Aleees has the largest market share in LFP cathode materials in the world, about 20 percent this year, with its main competitors being Taiwan’s Changs Ascending Enterprise Co (長園科技), US-based A123 Systems Inc and Phostech Lithium Inc of Canada.
Founded in 2005, Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry procures batteries from its LFP customers and outsources the whole car assembly to bus manufacturers.
The company shipped 11 electric buses in Taiwan last year. It also plans to start shipments of such vehicles to China by the end of this year, based on several cooperation deals inked earlier this year with Nanchang in Jiangxi Province, Qiqihar in Heilongjiang Province, as well as Ningbo and Yuyao in Zhejiang Province, the statement said.
In addition, the company has created its own electric-bus business model in China with a battery swapping system that is cost effective and efficient for bus operators, the statement said.
While Aleees has also teamed up with Sony Corp and Siemens AG on lithium battery development, it has been loss-making since 2010 due to a relatively lower revenue scale than its global peers and its high expenses on research and development.
In the first half of this year, the company posted NT$319.54 million in net losses, or a NT$2.23 loss per share, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
For the company to turn profitable, the key areas to watch are its battery cell development and the shipment timing for electric buses based on its projects on hand, analysts said.
“Based on current orders on hand for 2015, it looks difficult for the company to make a turnaround,” Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a report in August.
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