Lithium-Ion Fire Strikes at NYC Day Care

Dear Reader,

In the last 12 days, two major fires made headlines in NYC: one striking a six-story Chester Street apartment building early Sunday morning and the other, a week earlier, erupting in the middle of the day at a day care in Queens. 

Four injuries were reported from the Chester Street incident, while the day care blaze left 18 injured, including one child in serious condition. 

Both of these fires had one thing in common: They were caused by failing lithium-ion e-bike batteries. 

Unfortunately, these statistics do not represent a new phenomenon. As battery-powered personal transportation soars in popularity, the byproducts of this trend are clearly evident. 

New York City now averages more than five lithium-ion fires per week, with e-bike power plants being the primary culprit.

The problem has attracted so much attention in recent months that legislation has been proposed to ban e-bikes from the city altogether. 

While outright prohibition might be a stretch on a city-wide basis, targeted bans have already been put into effect in privately owned co-ops as well as city-operated buildings and facilities.

Whatever measures the NY City Council chooses to take, the application of bans will almost certainly be the primary prong. 

The Market Doesn't Care About Your Regulations

As the case is with most bans, however, these "solutions" will not stop or even slow the problem, because the core element behind these accidents is something already far too prevalent to simply remove from common usage. 

I’m talking about the lithium-ion battery in all of its forms. 

Far more numerous than the notorious e-bike batteries are the smaller, more compact lithium-ion batteries that almost all residents the developed world over the age of 15 carry with them on a daily basis. 

Current projections put the total number of internet-connected devices at 30.9 billion units by the middle of the decade, with each one representing the same failure risk.

And as more devices enter the second-hand market, this failure risk only grows.

Banning everything is simply not feasible.

Returning to a pre-wireless time is also not an option. 

The only real, true lasting solution is to ditch the lithium standard and find something completely new. 

Think Outside the Li-Ion Box

Ditching standards, after all, is how we went from coal to gasoline. It's how we got nuclear power and space flight and buildings over 10 stories in height. Ditching standards is what opens the door to monumental leaps in speed, efficiency, and user experience — changes that completely redefine the landscape.

Right now just such a monumental leap is in the works. 

A small materials technology company based in Brisbane, Australia, is building rechargeable batteries using graphene in place of lithium as the primary cathode material. 

Coupled with aluminum, the resulting battery offers performance advantages that may be hard to believe to any current user of lithium-ion batteries. 

The first and most important of these advantages is charge speed. 

Graphene batteries can be charged up to 70 times as fast as their lithium-ion counterparts. 

From Zero to 100% in Less Then a Minute?

Using the electric vehicle to illustrate the point, that would allow for a full charge in less time than it takes to fill up a standard gas tank at the pump.

These batteries also have more than twice the capacity and 3–5 times the expected service life, meaning that the average American EV owner could charge no more than twice a month, and expect all major structural and mechanical components to wear out before the batteries start to fail. 

Unlike lithium-batteries, which are highly susceptible to damage from regular usage, graphene batteries have demonstrated to be extremely sturdy, even withstanding a high-powered rifle bullet at close range in testing.

But the real miracle behind these graphene batteries is the technology that makes them possible. 

You see graphene, which was little more than a science project just 10 years ago (it won its key researchers the Nobel Prize in 2010), cost about twice as much as gold to produce just a few years ago. 

It wasn’t until another monumental leap — this one in production technology — that the price was lowered enough to make graphene a viable raw material for mass-produced consumer goods. 

No Supply Chains, No Shortages, No Chinese Influence

Today, the highest-quality graphene can be made using nothing more than natural gas and electricity. 

With the global lithium-ion battery market expected to hit $200 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade, perhaps the most prospective application for this once highly scarce material is in the rechargeable sector. 

It took years of research and experimentation, but as of now, the batteries I described above are no longer just a theory or a flowery projection. 

They’re a reality. 

The company behind the revolutionary new production methodology is already turning out the first consumer-grade examples of these next-gen graphene-aluminum cells. 

These early production units are heading to potential client firms for testing and evaluation, and if everything goes as expected, we will see a wave of adoption sweep through the market. 

That includes everything from renewable power generation, to the biggest ships on the planet, to high-speed rail, all the way down to smart watches and hearing aids.

Now, there are a couple things about this company that may grab your attention from an investment point of view. 

First of all, it’s small. 

This isn’t a BASF type of operation, with interests and influence across the world. This company's Brisbane operation is the extent of it, and graphene is the focus of the business. 

Nevertheless, the company is public. It’s listed on two North American exchanges and is currently trading at market capitalization of about $150 million — that's less than 1/1,000th of what its target market is projected to be worth in just seven years. 

Is This the Best Bargain in Tech Stocks Today?

Recent turmoil on the public markets is largely to blame, as this stock is trading at less than half of its 52-week high, but the long-term potential goes far beyond a 2x or 3x gain. 

We’re talking about order-of-magnitude growth potential — if everything goes according to plan. 

I’ve been following this story for months now and have managed to distill all of the relevant data into one single video presentation. 

Just think of it as me doing your homework for you, giving you everything you need to make an informed decision on your own. 

Access is free and instant. I’m not sure how long I will keep access open, but if you’re interested, I do urge you not to wait. 

The moment the mainstream media pick this story up, shares will skyrocket and those who hesitated will be left watching a departing train. 

It costs nothing to get informed right now. 

Enter here.

Fortune favors the bold,

Alex Koyfman

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His flagship service, Microcap Insider, provides market-beating insights into some of the fastest moving, highest profit-potential companies available for public trading on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges. With more than 5 years of track record to back it up, Microcap Insider is the choice for the growth-minded investor. Alex contributes his thoughts and insights regularly to Wealth Daily. To learn more about Alex, click here.