Netherlands and Bolivia Together In Lithium Batteries

Minister Lilianne Ploumen of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation announced on Thursday that the Netherlands and Bolivia will start a cooperation to make use of, and make money froml, the gigantic amounts of Lithium that can be found in Bolivia. The TU Delft and three Dutch companies are going to help Bolivia to put up a new company that will produce lithium batteries. It is expected that the demand for lithium batteries will increase much in the coming years. For instance as batteries for electric cars, says the ministry. Ploumen says that the Bolivians can profit from this cooperation since they don’t have to do all the investments by themselves and can profit more, also in the future, from their natural resources. For the Netherlands it is a welcome spin-off for the Dutch industry. There will be put up a cooperation between the TU Delft and the universities in La Paz, Potosi, Oruru and Cochabamba. In the coming years 40 Bolivian master students will be invited to study at the TU Delft. Further will Bolivian doctoral students get a chance to learn more in the Netherlands about lithium batteries. People from the TU Delft will also give lessons in Bolivia. The TU Delft will start at the end of this year to train employees of a new investigation center in Bolivia, in cooperation with DaVinci Laboratory Solutions. BTI-Energy Innovators will put up the new battery company and Boon Consultants will operate as intermediate.