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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Speedbump, post: 2775216, member: 75637&quot;]Metal prices, just like stocks, are based on speculative future demand. This applies to PGMs more so than gold or silver which have a safe haven investment aspects that PGMs (for the most part) do not. Diesel car demand is tanking and will likely go away completely in the not to distant future. This is one of the reasons Platinum is down. Palladium is seeing positive movement with the overall car market because its used primarily in gasoline cars. However, as the adoption of cars that don&#039;t run on dead dinosaur juice continues to accelerate, the need for more new PGMs overall will decline significantly without a new use.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Alternative fuels vehicles up to this point have accounted for a tiny fraction of total car sales. Even hybrids still have gasoline engines with catalytic converters. This is all shifting, and quickly. Projections estimate that 50% of all new cars sold in the US will be fully electric within a few decades. Global EV sales could be up to 30% in the same time period, primarily driven by Chinese demand. PGMs have no significant roll in electric cars as we see them today or in the foreseeable future. Batteries today use lithium, copper, cobalt, aluminum, and nickel. PGMs could find new hope in fuel cells, but these haven&#039;t turned out to the wonder machines people were hoping for. Some researchers have ideas of PGMs in batteries, but until there is a usable product that can actually be made and sold, its just a science experiment. </p><p><br /></p><p>Tesla&#039;s Model 3 will be the test. A success here will mark the beginning of a fundamental shift in the auto industry. A true widespread adoption of a platform that does not run on fossil fuels. If Tesla pulls it off, you can bet others will follow quickly. Other large auto makers (mostly the Germans) have already committed to full scale EV production with the expectation of turning profits off the segment instead of the money losing government compliance garbage they have been making up to this point.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>PGMs are unique in their physical properties. They will always be needed for other various things. But those other various things are dwarfed by the auto catalyst industry which does not have a prosperous long term outlook right now.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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