Lithium is the key factor to replace fossil fuels with “green” energy in the new millennium. The world’s recent efforts to preserve and stop the depletion of the global environment have found new sources of energy like the new booming industry of Li-Ion batteries, which seems to be the solution to the world car industry crisis thanks to its wide qualities and low cost of production. Unfortunately this incipient market shows itself as an oligopoly in the hands of a few developing countries’ governments with rich countries capital creating barriers of entrance through market power and predatory price strategies. Such is the case of Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in South America with the world’s largest reserve of this mineral, that looks forward to enter in this promising industry. This thesis offers a description and analysis of the Lithium industry and future prospects of the market given two factors: the efficient application of Lithium batteries technology in the hybrid car industry and the relative effect of new entrants (Bolivia) on the future demand/supply levels; also, this thesis offers an empirical study of the price variation in the last decades and the feasibility on new entrants (Bolivia) in the market under the previous assumption of entry barriers through “price war”.
