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Isn't there a limited amount of easily minable lithium metal, though? I could have sworn I read that somewhere...
by cr0sh 9y ago
Isn't there a limited amount of easily minable lithium metal, though? I could have sworn I read that somewhere...
- aeleos 9y agoAccording to this [0] with the current mining rates of lithium it was last us 365 years. However, given the exponential rate that technology has grown at, we will hopefully have figured a solution to this, either with different battery technology or some other way of getting lithium. [0] https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/is-there-enough-lithium-to-maintain-the-growth-of-the-lithium-ion-battery-m https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/is-there-enough...
- flyinghamster 9y agoAlso, let's not forget that old batteries can and will be recycled.
- linkregister 9y agoAnd are. Honda and Toyota have battery recycling programs for their hybrids.
- StillBored 9y agoRecycling or "reuse" because it seems that Toyota at least just gives them to green energy projects... An old hybrid battery when provided in quantities of a few hundred make great off grid energy storage devices. http://corporatenews.pressroom.toyota.com/releases/2015+yellowstone+lamar+battery+lentz.htm http://corporatenews.pressroom.toyota.com/releases/2015+yell...
- woodandsteel 9y agoI wonder how much of the cost of producing lithium is for energy that could come from renewables. And the trucks that transport the ore could be EV's. Let's get a whole ecosystem going here.
- beefield 9y agoIt does not matter. You need less than a dollar's worth of lithium to a kWh of battery thay costs 200 dollars. Once you increase a price of commodity by an order of magnitude - which we can here easily afford - all current reserve estimates are worthless due to massive new interest in research and development in mining technology and deposit discovery.
- ISL 9y agoOr recycling. Why mine when you already have some sitting around?
- rad_gruchalski 9y agoWhat you are saying leads me to the following thought: lithium will be the new oil. With all the same consequences that oil has now.
- akanet 9y agoThis is pretty unlikely given that lithium is recoverable, extremely common (an element, not a complex organic molecule), and not, you know, we don't burn it to get value out of it.
- FooHentai 9y ago>This is pretty unlikely given that lithium is recoverable This is a bit of an aside, but I think it's interesting that oil is recoverable from plastics via pyrolisis.
- 9y ago
- stephengillie 9y agoBy the 2060s, we will be pursuing carbon fission - not to generate energy, but to make more lithium.
- Tade0 9y agoThere are over 230 billion tonnes of lithium in ocean water. 1kWh of batteries requires around 200 grams. Currently most of the lithium comes from brines simply because it's cheaper this way.