EVs may end up coinciding with the rise of automated cars, which may give rise to a large portion of people accessing vehicles on-demand (and not owning them).

EVs may end up coinciding with the rise of automated cars, which may give rise to a large portion of people accessing vehicles on-demand (and not owning them). It that bcomes true, it's very possible that the world very much won't need even one EV per person... How much is "economically useful or available" lithium is interesting as what makes sense to access now with current technologies changes as demand increases. More expensive techniques get pioneered and then the access cost drops for the technique as it gets optimized - much like the recent fracking boom.