PARIS — Bolloré, the French conglomerate working with Italian design firm Pininfarina on an all-electric car project called Blue Car, is going ahead with plans to build the car, company chief Vincent Bolloré confirmed to media on Monday here. There had been speculation that the death last month of Pininfarina CEO Andrea Pininfarina could mean the end of the project. Reuters cited an executive with the French company as saying orders would begin to be taken next summer.Separately, it appears Bolloré is going far afield in a search for the lithium to power the car's lithium-polymer batteries, an innovation of the French company. French business publication Usine Nouvelle reports the company is looking at taking an interest in a lithium mine in the Uyuni region of Bolivia.This part of the South American country is located on a former salt lake and is, the paper reports, 'the largest salt desert on the planet, containing an estimated one-third of the world's lithium reserves.' Mitsubishi was named as another company interested in the region in the news report.The future of the Blue Car project had been in question since Andrea Pininfarina's death in a moped-car collision in Turin. Whether or not the lithium for its batteries is sourced from Bolivia, the French company reportedly plans to produce 10,000 batteries for the new car each year in the Brittany region of France. The Blue Car battery is targeted to have a 124-mile driving range between charges.What this means to you: Good news for electric-car prospects — and if the lithium mining prospects are what the French are suggesting, Bolivia is going to see an electrifying surge of interest by automakers worldwide. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent